Getting In Touch With His Feminine Side
by SpiritBlackFire
Summary: Inuyasha was never the most empathic person there was. However, during an embarrassing incident for Kagome, she had wished that Inuyasha could for once understand the problems of a female. How was she to know that her wish would soon come true?
1. The Devious Plan

**AN:** Welcome everyone to my first fanfic on this site! I know many people usually want you to go easy on them, but in my case I don't much care if you like this story or not. I just felt inspired to type this up one day. Anyway, if you like the story, tell me so, and if you have any justifiable criticism, they're also welcome. Also if you see any mistakes anywhere, please point that out! I mean I can't be perfect and have completely no mistakes in this even though I proof read it

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, or anything related to the anime or manga. If I did why would I bother typing up a fanfiction? I would be putting all this in the manga!

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はじめよ。

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**Chapter One The Devious Plan**

It was just one of those days where everything seemed to going from bad to worse. Though it was just another day of searching for a certain evil hanyou and collecting fragments of the Shikon no Tama while dealing with the crazy interactions between the group, everything appeared horrible for one person in particular. "Hurry it up Kagome! Damn, can't fucking go two steps without you falling behind and slowing us all down!" This was one of the reasons why.

Kagome Higurashi had once again fallen behind her friends as she was experiencing a few difficulties, one that she did not feel comfortable with disclosing with the amount of males there. Today just so happened to be that certain time of the month for this female, and unfortunately she was unprepared for its arrival. So she had been lagging behind, so that if the blood indeed did show itself because she was unable to contain its flow, she did not want anyone to see it, especially not Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo.

However it was increasingly hard to do so with Inuyasha continually barking at her every second and trying to get her to keep up. "Inuyasha! I'm keeping up just fine! Just keep going on ahead and I'll follow!" Kagome snapped back at the dog demon, not in the mood to deal with his impatience. Truthfully she was amazed that she hadn't sat him yet though she probably figured that because of the embarrassment of her situation she was slowing everyone down just to wait up for her so in a way Inuyasha was right about her slowing them all down, however that did not give him any right to snap at her constantly for it.

"Well if you were keeping up then we wouldn't have to keep stopping just for you!" During the time since they've began their search today, they've needed to stop for Kagome about fifty times already, no exaggeration. Worst was that only half an hour had passed since then. So seeing as Inuyasha was never a patient person to begin with, having to stop fifty times in the last thirty minutes had broken the thin line of patience he did have about forty-nine stops ago.

Taking a deep breath in to calm herself, Kagome closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head mentally before opening them and feeling a little bit more relaxed. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all. Maybe if we could stop for a minute?" If this worked then she could ask Sango to help her in privacy and be able to keep up with the group without fearing of leaking. Of course naturally Inuyasha wouldn't go along with the idea. "Another break?! We just only started walking thirty minutes ago! And you had all night to fucking rest up!"

"I know but I…"

"No! We keep moving! If that's such a problem then use that by-cycle (it's a future word, and even though Inuyasha should know by now what it is, he still has to sound it out just to say it) that you're lugging around!" Indicating to the bicycle that Kagome was pushing, Inuyasha then promptly turned his back on her and then walked off, expecting everyone else to follow, however no one did. "I can't ride my bicycle. It…has a flat." Kagome quickly came up with a lie to suffice as a reason to not ride it. There was no way she was capable of riding her bike in her current condition.

Stopping and turning back around to start yelling at Kagome again, it was fortunate that Miroku and Sango saw it time to intervene before things got too out of hand and someone ended up getting sat. "Inuyasha, it's obvious that Kagome can't walk any further. So why don't we just stop for a moment? If you could wait all night for us to sleep then surely you can wait another minute?" Sango reasoned, sticking up for Kagome's idea, as any good best friend would do, despite she did not know why Kagome needed to stop and rest so soon after waking up an hour ago.

However Inuyasha didn't take this intervention too lightly. Rather it only did more to enrage him. "Yeah and during all this damn time I'm waiting for all of you to rest Naraku's gaining more and more shards and getting more powerful cause of them! It's bad enough I gotta wait so often for all of ya to rest up everyday. So forget it! We are not stopping, especially so soon!" There was a slight growl to his tone, as it was obvious today had not been such a good day for him either. Particularly starting with Kagome spraying him in the face with a liquid that smelled horrible, not only burning his sensitive nose but his eyes as well. He could still smell the lingering odour of that horrible smelling liquid.

It appeared that Sango was about to smash her Hiraikotsu on Inuyasha's head and yell directly into his delicate little dog ears, before Miroku's hand rested on her shoulder to hold her back from physically harming the moody hanyou. "Inuyasha, if the matter is that important to you, then why not carry Kagome? Since Kagome can't continue walking because she is tired and you are unwilling to stop then if she was carried she would not need to walk and you would not have to wait for her to rest."

Inuyasha considered what Miroku had said. It sounded like a logical and not to mention good idea. Even if he was carrying Kagome he could still walk faster than compared to his human companions and Kagome wouldn't always be falling behind. It appeared like a win win situation. "Alright. But I don't want ya spraying me with anymore of that purm-few stuff again!" He pointed an accusing finger at Kagome before walking up to her.

"Perfume. It's called perfume." Kagome corrected as she remembered how she sprayed herself with perfume to hide the smell of the blood from Inuyasha's senses, and accidentally spraying it in his face too when he was getting too close. He still hadn't gotten over that, which was another reason why he was so angry with her. However just as Inuyasha was coming, Kagome began to panic inwardly. Even if the perfume she sprayed on herself masked the smell of blood temporarily, it would not be enough if Inuyasha were to get too close, not to mention if she was riding on him. "No! It's fine! I'll walk faster! Really, just keep going on!" She began backing away.

"Oh no ya don't! I heard that shit fifty times already!" Inuyasha persisted on walking towards her, intending to carry her to speed up their journey. However he froze the moment something caught his attention, and it wasn't the fact that Kagome seemed to be backing away from him that was concerning him. Actually he barely noticed this as he came upon this realisation.

Seeing the hanyou freezing on the spot, Kagome also stopped and stared at him in worry. Did she do or say something to hurt his feelings? "Inuyasha?" Both Miroku and Sango also appeared worry as the robust half demon became so still without any warning. "Inuyasha, is something wrong?"

Just then Inuyasha's face scrunched up slightly before stepping back. "Geez Kagome, if ya bleeding that badly it wouldn't have killed ya to warn me before I got this close." Even though he was about three metres away he still was capable of smelling Kagome's blood and identify where the blood came from, much to Kagome's dismay. It felt to her as if she had just been plunged into cold water; all sound being drowned out with the exception of her increasing heartbeat. Her cheeks burned red with embarrassment with what had been said aloud. "SIT BOY!"

With those simple words, a mystical light glowed around the Beads of Subjugation, increasing its weight before pulling Inuyasha down to the ground. The poor soul had barely even noticed the word had even been uttered until his head crashed into the oh-so familiar ground. Groaning from both pain and anger, Inuyasha pushed himself to his elbows and glared up at Kagome. "What the fuck was that for, bitch?!"

However those were the wrong words. "SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! **SIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!**" With that final screech, Kagome stormed off, leaving Inuyasha twitching in pain in a meter deep hole.

After the exhibition of Kagome sitting Inuyasha, Sango glanced at Miroku. "I should go with Kagome." Miroku nodded in agreement before looking at the hole that Inuyasha was currently laying in. "That would be best. And I suppose I need to be stuck with the task of calming Inuyasha down when he gets out of the hole?" Giving him a look that instantly told him that she knew he was going to be stuck with the hardest task, Sango then ran off after Kagome to help her.

"Wait, I want to help Kagome too!" Shippo stated, trying to run after Sango but to no avail as Miroku grabbed onto the kit's tail to hold him back and then picked him up and placed him onto his shoulder. "Shippo, it would be wiser if you stayed here while Sango tends to Kagome."

Not understanding what was going on, Shippo looked up at Miroku with cute, innocent eyes filled with determination to be there with a female that was as close to him as his own mother. "But if Kagome's injured we should be there for her."

"Don't worry, she's not injured. The type of bleeding Kagome is undergoing contains no pain nor causes her harm in any way." Miroku explained as best as he could without going into any detail, although this only caused Shippo to look at him in confusion. Sighing, Miroku replied with the usual "I'll tell you once you get older." line.

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With Sango's help, Kagome was now feeling much more comfortable that there was something to contain her blood flow. "Thanks Sango. Really, I feel so much better now."

Sango smiled at her friend as they were walking back to where they had left the guys on their own. "It's okay Kagome. Though I wish I had known sooner what was wrong; we could have avoided all of that. I'm sure it was hard for you to walk like that while being careful of it overflowing."

"Yeah." Kagome replied distracted as she thought of the argument between Inuyasha and herself. That had only occurred because she was so embarrassed about her problem that she did not want to tell anyone of it and only caused more problems to hide it. She was sure that Inuyasha was still angry with her for it. Although he shouldn't have been so insensitive about it. '_It wasn't like it was something that I could share with a male…besides he should learn to be more respectful of others and how they feel. Sometimes I wish he would realise what it's like being a female and going through all the problems we have to deal with._'

The two females could now see the males up ahead; Miroku appeared to be saying something to Inuyasha who was sitting down cross-legged on the ground and Shippo standing just between them, looking back and forth between the older males.

"They're coming back now. So don't say anything to upset Kagome again." Miroku instructed as he noticed the two girls walking back. Inuyasha kept his back turned towards the monk; though he had been able to hear the two girls and sense them arriving long before Miroku had pointed this out. "Feh." He moved his shoulders to indicate a shrug.

Sighing, Miroku then whacked his staff on top of Inuyasha's head and then used it to push the hanyou's head down. "Inuyasha, do you honestly enjoy getting sat, because you know that if you do say something stupid that's exactly what Kagome will do to you." Inuyasha could be so stubborn sometimes – correction, most of the time – it seemed like a miracle that he was even capable of getting along with his stubborn friend.

Growling in annoyance, in one quick movement, Inuyasha shoved the staff away and stood up to glare at Miroku eye to eye. "Dammit Miroku, you don't think I know that?! I ain't gonna say anything unless she starts on me first!" If someone else had said this it would have been reassuring. Yet when Inuyasha said it, it was something to worry about. Anything could set the demon off, so attempting to judge what of the very few things that would not annoy him today was more than just a difficult task. "Just avoid the topic about her…you know." Again Miroku sighed. He could swear that at the end of all his travelling with Inuyasha he probably would have aged about two decades despite that less than a year has passed so far.

Thankfully the arrival of Kagome and Sango stopped any snappy remark Inuyasha was prepared to say to Miroku. "We're ready to go now." Sango stated, wanting to try and get everyone's attention on the journey ahead as to forget what had just happened. Swiftly reading the hidden intention in that, Miroku smiled as if nothing had happened. "Then we should continue along the way we were going." It was apparent that both Sango and Miroku were trying to push the journey along so that Kagome and Inuyasha could avoid the subject of what had caused their argument previously. Before either of the latter could reply, the monk and slayer had walked ahead, causing the half demon and priestess to walk after them as to not get left behind.

Shippo had jumped into Kagome's arms the moment that they began walking away. "So Kagome, are you feeling better after all the bleeding?" Before Kagome had returned, Sango had given her something that she could use that would weaken the smell of her blood from most demons' sense of smell yet still not be too strong as to annoy sensitive senses. Fortunately it appeared that it was working on Shippo since he couldn't smell any of the blood, however Sango had warned her that it may be possible for someone with Inuyasha's sense of smell or better to still be capable of smelling it if close enough. Albeit Kagome wasn't concerned if Inuyasha had smelt it; he already knew what was going on anyway considering he was the one that so kindly alerted the whole group to this detail. "Yeah I'm just fine Shippo." Kagome replied kindly, ruffling the small boy's head.

Smiling affectionately at this, Shippo then snuggled into Kagome before pulling away enough to look up at her. "That's good. I was so worried and neither Miroku or Inuyasha would tell me what was going on." He pouted with this, still upset that something could have been wrong with his mother figure yet no one wanted to tell him exactly what was happening. "Miroku kept saying that he'd tell me when I was older and Inuyasha said that he'd knock me out if I kept asking."

"Keh." Kagome suddenly looked up at Inuyasha, who was looking in the other direction with his eyes closed, although his ears were twitching to every word that was spoken. She already knew by now that he could hear everything with those ears, and that "keh" of his was a clear sigh of his eavesdropping. "Don't worry about it Shippo. I'm just fine now; it was really nothing. I didn't even feel a thing." Turning back to him she smiled reassuringly. "Why don't you go play with Kilala for a moment while I have a word with Inuyasha."

Glancing at the older demon for a moment and then turning back to look at Kagome, Shippo soon nodded and then leapt out of her arms. He wasn't sure why Kagome had wanted to talk to Inuyasha so suddenly however he had the feeling that it was better if the two of them had their privacy. Without another word the young kitsune dashed over to the small nekomata that was currently walking besides Sango.

After watching Shippo beginning to walk with Kilala for a second or two, Kagome then looked at Inuyasha, who still didn't seem like he was paying her any mind, and then walked over to him. "Inuyasha?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her with an annoyed expression. "What?" He grunted, still peeved about the argument they had before. As far as he was concerned it was completely Kagome's fault, and once again everyone was taking her side like they always did.

Instantly Kagome gathered that Inuyasha was still holding a grudge from the argument from before. Just as expected. Sighing sadly, she then forced herself to remain calm as she said her next words. "About what happened before…I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was holding everyone up just because I was embarrassed…also I'm sorry about the perfume thing." She had actually already apologised about spraying him in the face with perfume before but she felt like it would help if she said it again now.

Inuyasha stared at Kagome for a moment, noticing how sad she appeared. Honestly, he didn't care about the perfume thing anymore – the only thing he was angry about was that after her holding up everyone because she didn't want to tell anyone that she had a problem she still ended up sitting him just because of it. Though he was feeling slightly guilty that Kagome had gotten upset over him, and he hadn't even said anything yet. That had to be a new record for him. "You don't need to apologise."

Kagome was staring at him in confusion now, expecting him to continue being irritated by her. However his tone and expression had softened somewhat, which made her smile. It may not have been the appropriate time but Kagome couldn't help but feel relieved that Inuyasha was no longer mad at her. They may fight a lot however she would never really want Inuyasha to continue being angry with her, unless she was still frustrated by him in which case she would not be in the mood to care. "So, are you alright now?" There was a bit of hesitance as Inuyasha asked this, remembering the last time they talked about this topic he was sat into a metre deep hole. Sure he acted tough and like nothing can hurt him, but those sit commands were irksome, not to mention painful.

"Oh uh…it's fine." A tinge of pink rose in Kagome's cheek at this question. It was obvious that everyone here, well aside from Shippo who was too young, knew of her situation however it still felt very awkward to be open about it with a male as of yet. Especially when that male just so happened to be the one she loved.

Silence immediately ensued after this. Clearly, the two were feeling very uncomfortable about this; Kagome being embarrassed because of the obvious reasons, and Inuyasha not having any real experience with women and how to react around them when it came to woman problems. Usually he would just solve things by being loud, obnoxious and violently killing demons, however this was something that was natural – strange but natural. So he had completely no idea what to say or what not to say around Kagome, which he was never good at anyway even when it was under normal circumstances.

Fortunately he did not need to dwell on the matter any longer as Kagome suddenly froze on the spot, breaking the awkward silence. "Guys, I sense a large fragment of the Shikon Jewel." Immediately everyone else stopped at this and tensed as they grabbed onto their weapons. Besides Koga and Kohaku, there was no other shards that were left to find that was known as of yet. So as Naraku had the rest of them, whenever a large piece was revealed it always meant that Naraku was soon to appear.

No sooner had Kilala transformed and everyone's weapon was at the ready, Miasma began to exude into the area. Maniacal laughter subsequently followed. "Kukuku so you've finally sensed my presence. After watching you all since you've began travelling I had began to wonder whether you would ever snap out of your own problems and notice that you were being watched." His voice had been projected, so it sounded as if it was coming from everywhere at the same time, making it impossible for him to be tracked by his voice.

Inuyasha began growling, unable to find where precisely Naraku was. Not only was the sound of his voice coming from all directions, but so was his scent. Any lead he would try to follow was most likely to be false. "If you've been watching us for so long then why don't ya come out and fight us instead of hiding behind that stupid smog of yours?!"

"It was much more amusing watching your group go into chaos over a simple matter." The embarrassment Kagome felt before had now been magnified by times ten. It was bad enough that both Inuyasha and Miroku knew of her little problem but hearing that Naraku had just witnessed that whole incident, she was hoping that just now she would wake up and that her and her friends' arch nemesis would not know what time of the month it was for her.

Just to increase Kagome's embarrassment, Naraku began laughing again, causing the young priestess to assume that he had just been reading her mind and laughed to prove that this indeed was no dream. However, whether it was coincidence or the cause of his telepathy, she would never know.

"Naraku, what are you up to? You must be pretty sure of yourself or your plan if you are willing to risk coming out into the open like this." Miroku interjected, ruining Naraku's maniacal laughter in attempt to keep up with the tradition of the villain always having some evil laugh that can send chills up the heroes or heroines' spins. "If I indeed have a plan as you seem to think then I would not so easily disclose that knowledge. However, maybe my refusal to answer is not a matter of simply not wanting to, but rather whether you have asked the correct question."

A puzzle wrapped in an enigma locked in a riddle that was sealed in a conundrum. That was just how simple Naraku could be; just wait until he begins to play with their minds with complex plans that only one as diabolical as he could decipher.

"What the hell are ya on about?!" Inuyasha asked in frustration, not only having an immense hatred for this demon, but also sick to death of all of the riddles Naraku would give them to confuse them and then make them fight his stupid minions while he succeeded in whatever plan of his he had conjured.

"Was I not clear enough or must I use smaller words in order for your slow mind to comprehend?"

There was mirth to that reply, and that only helped Inuyasha to come to a decision. "I'm sick of hearing your damn mocking voice all the time! Screw whatever plans you're up to! I'll just hack ya down to pieces then we won't need to worry about it!" Once again the old faithful 'kill all that you can kill until you can't see anything breathing to kill anymore' plan was his first and last resort. Raising Tetsusaiga up high he then suddenly brought the sword down quickly in order to launch his attack. "WIND SCAR!"

Gold disappeared into the thick dark purple clouds as the Wind Scar appeared to have been absorbed into the Miasma. No sound of collision or glint of the golden attack was evident to alert them of what had happened. It didn't even appear to be coming back at them from being reflected by Naraku's barrier. Strangely, the fact that there was no sign of the Wind Scar was worrying everyone more than if it was being reflected back at them.

"What happened to the Wind Scar?" Sango asked as she, and everyone else, searched this way and that in order to see any sign of the attack that was just launched. "I don't know." Inuyasha replied with confusion as even with his enhanced senses he could still not locate his own attack. Worst was he could feel that the attack hadn't hit a thing, which was awkward as it should of hit the trees of the forest. '_Wait a moment…I can't feel any grass either, actually it just feels like I'm walking on cold glass, and I can't even sense any of the animals that were in the forest._' It just occurred to Inuyasha that they weren't in the forest anymore. "Naraku! What the fuck did you do?!"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" It was evident in Naraku's lax reply that he knew exactly what Inuyasha had meant, and this only proved to further the Inu hanyou's ire. "You know exactly what I mean, asshole! We ain't in the forest anymore! Where the hell did ya take us?!"

A smooth and calm chuckle was his only reply for a minute before it ceased and was replaced by the mocking reply of Naraku. "As interesting as that question is, may I ask who is this 'we' that you speak of?"

Blinking for a moment, Inuyasha stood there dumbfounded before immediately growling in response. "Don't damn act dumb! You know exactly who I'm talking about!" Although surprisingly it felt strange that no one else was responding to all of Naraku's taunts. "What the hell is wrong with all of ya?! Aren't any of you gonna say…some…thing…" His sentence trailed off as he turned around to face his friends, only to see that no one was there. "What the…?" Where was everyone? They were just behind him a moment ago. How could they've all possible disappeared without him noticing?

His thoughts were soon consumed by the evil laughter of his hated nemesis. "For someone who quickly noticed the change in his surrounding environment, I did not think that you were so slow when it came to realising what happens to your friends. Perhaps I gave you too much credit." If his face had been visible at the time there would be a deriding grin on Naraku's face. "Or maybe you do not care for your friends as much as I thought."

That had stirred Inuyasha out of his concern of wondering what was happening to his friends. Instead he turned around and glared in the direction he suspected Naraku to be, which in truth was just a wild guess, and tightened his grip on Tetsusaiga. "What the hell did ya do with them?! If you fucking don't tell me where they are now, I'll fucking come after you, destroy everything in this damn hellhole until I find you then slit you open and rip your fucking insides out!"

"I have done nothing to your friends as of yet. However they are not the ones you should be concerned about at the moment." Despite the threat directed towards him, Naraku managed to remain calm yet deceiving. Rather he had wanted Inuyasha irritated to a certain extent as whenever Inuyasha became too angered the little intelligence he had diminished into almost non-existent so it would be easier for Naraku's plan to succeed.

"What the hell are ya on about, bastard?!" It seemed very much like they were going around in circles. Every time Inuyasha had asked something, Naraku would taunt him then he would yell a threat and then Naraku would respond in a riddle that led Inuyasha to only ask more questions. And unfortunately for Inuyasha, Naraku didn't appear to have wanted to end that cycle soon. "Still you fail to understand. Very well, I suppose that leaves me without a choice than to show you what I mean." Though his words would appear as if Naraku was going out of his way, on the contrary he had actually been hoping that Inuyasha would take the bait so that it would come to this.

Emerging from the clouds of Miasma where Inuyasha had been glaring at the entire time, Naraku gradually made his way to the growling dog demon. If only Inuyasha had known that he had somehow managed to be facing in the correct direction of where Naraku had hidden himself he would have attacked before. However the past could not be changed. "Inuyasha, why do you look so displeased at seeing me. Did you not say before that I should stop hiding behind my "smog" as you call it and come out to face you?" That devious smirk had been plastered on Naraku's face before was now clear in view since he had decided to reveal himself.

Inuyasha continued to growl as the offending hanyou approached him, and no sooner had Naraku's mocking statement ended, Inuyasha wasted no time in raising Tetsusaiga for an attack. "Bastard! I'll fucking waste you here now you stupidly came out! WIND SCAR!" Again the golden attack was launched, carving crevasses into the hardened, black, cold ground as it made its path to the evil demon.

Naraku watched as the attack neared nonchalantly, and simply paced a barrier when it appeared to be about to hit him. The Wind Scar hit the barrier and then rebounded, running back along the crevasses it created and heading straight for the one that had sent the attack.

"Shit." Cursing quietly, Inuyasha quickly leapt out of the way of his own Wind Scar, managing to get out of the way just in time as it had blown up the ground he had been standing on prior to the attack. Albeit he didn't bother to waste time watching as the debris of the ground flew up from the explosion and immediately took the cover of the smoke to charge at Naraku for a close confrontation.

With the dust currently hiding his opponent, Naraku didn't appear to be concerned, as he felt safe behind the powerful barrier he erected. No sooner as he smirked at that thought did his red-clad enemy leapt out of the dust with his large sword held up high. "Inuyasha, do you honestly believe that if your Wind Scar could not penetrate my barrier a measly head on attack would suffice?"

However Inuyasha did not reply, which was unusual to say the least. Instead he continued through with his attack, now bringing down Tetsusaiga's blade with all his might on the barrier. Before contact the white blade began to transform; crimson slowly bled into the white until it fully took over, making Tetsusaiga a completely crimson blade. Seeing the blade changing colour, Naraku's eyes widened slightly as he realised his foe's plan, however it was too late to act as Tetsusaiga stuck into the barrier, pushing down hard on the impenetrable force.

Sparks flew from where the sword made contact on the barrier, yet neither force would give in to the other. Inuyasha continue to push down with every ounce of strength he could muster, gritting his fangs as he mentally beseeched his sword to succeed in breaking this barrier.

It felt as if an hour passed and still neither power seemed about to break. At that moment Naraku felt confident that his barrier would not break as continually forcing his sword to break the barrier was waning on Inuyasha's energy. "My barrier cannot be broken by the likes of you. Waste all your energy on a meaningless task; it would only prove futile." Suddenly Inuyasha's progress began to pay off as Naraku noticed the ripples in his barrier, as it appeared to be weakening. Apparently he had spoken too soon, and even Inuyasha had noticed this. "Can't be broken by the likes of me, huh? The state of your barrier says otherwise."

The barrier continued to ripple and shudder under the force of the Tetsusaiga and both half demons could feel the barrier's strength depleting. Steadily the blade began to seep into the confines of the barrier, and now Inuyasha was smirking. He was about to break the barrier; he was so sure of it. However the sparks from the collision of the two forces ceased and at that moment neither male was sure of what was about to happen.

Then the unexpected happened. The barrier started to regain strength and forced Tetsusaiga's blade away with enough force to send Inuyasha flying as well. Naraku's smirk was back in place whilst he watched Inuyasha grumbling a few curses and pushing himself up. "As I said. My barrier cannot be broken by the likes of you." With his barrier still protecting him, Naraku leisurely floated over to where his enemy was forcing himself up. "No matter how hard you train you will never be capable of reaching the level of power that I, Naraku have acquired."

Inuyasha was sweating and panting deeply as he stuck Tetsusaiga into the ground and pushed himself off the ground. Once he was able to stand on his feet and certain that he could keep his balance he held Tetsusaiga up in an offensive position. "You can say that until your face goes blue and I still won't believe any of that shit. Deny it all you want but I saw the expression on your face back then. For a moment you were actually worried." He managed to pull off a confident smile as he said it, albeit it appeared weaker than usual as he was tired from all the energy he had used up previously. Though his situation looked bleak, for a split second his sword had the opportunity to break the barrier, and both he and Naraku knew this, if only Inuyasha had trained harder he was sure he could have succeeded.

Naraku landed on the ground now, the surface of his barrier a metre away from the tip of Inuyasha's blade. He watched in boredom as the dog demon adamantly stood up in spite of the fact that anyone in his predicament and with a weaker will would of given up by now. Why did he always tend to attract those that had stubborn wills as foes? "It doesn't matter what had occurred before. Right now, even if you could test this little theory of yours about my barrier you would not have the strength to do so. In fact, it is taking you all your energy to just stand and hold that large fang at the same time."

Glaring at the evil half demon, Inuyasha wasted no time in preparing his next attack as Tetsusaiga's blade coated itself with diamond spears. "I may not be able to use the Red Tetsusaiga again against you, but I'll see that this attack finishes you off for good. ADAMANT BAR-" As he swung his diamond sword around, something hard wrapped around his entire body, restricting it from movement. Trying to continue his attack but to no avail, Inuyasha reluctantly looked down to see tentacles from the ground constricting his body. How did he not notice what Naraku had been doing this whole time? "Wha? What in the?!"

"As amusing as it is watching you stubbornly fight a losing battle, I must admit that your puerile antics are beginning to tire me." Naraku allowed his barrier to drop and then twisted his wrist as he slowly clenched his hand, causing the tentacles to tighten on Inuyasha, which caused his grip on Tetsusaiga to lax. Certain that Inuyasha could not break out of his tentacles, Naraku casually walked up to the Inu hanyou with a malicious glint in his crimson eyes.

Inuyasha continued to struggle to get free despite that the tentacles only become tighter and tighter until it felt like it was blocking off the flow of his blood. "Bastard! What the fuck is this?!"

"Inuyasha, do you still fail to see what my reason is for bringing you here, alone?" Seeing the complete and utter hatred and desire to kill in his golden eyes, Naraku feinted a tsking sound as if he were disappointed in how thick headed Inuyasha could be. "I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything more from you. After all, intelligence was always the weakest of your many weaknesses." A menacing growl subsequently followed the insult, however the moment Inuyasha opened his mouth to yell in outrage at the evil hanyou, only a scream of agony was emitted.

The tentacles wrapped around his body had now pierced into his skin, protruding through the other side. His torso had a total of five thick tentacles that had stabbed through both the back and front of his chest and gut. The tentacles around his arms and legs had not only pierced through his skin and protruded out of the other end, but weaved in and out of his flesh like stitches, causing multiple stabs on his limbs. Around his neck was the force of a tentacle attempting to crush his windpipe, although fortunately it had not attempted to stab the hanyou as of yet.

Naraku had now grabbed Inuyasha roughly under his chin and then yanked his head up and forward to cause more pain on the constricted neck of his foe. He stretched his other hand wide open as a harden appendage appeared in his open palm, being formed by his bones. It was blood red and seemed like it had been twisted into shape. The tip was sharp and dripped with a green deadly poison. Wrapping his fingers around it, he held it comfortably, as if it were a pen, then brought up to Inuyasha's forehead and slowly stabbed the sharp tip into his skin.

Grinding his fangs to resist the pain as Naraku carved what felt like kanji into his skull, Inuyasha endeavoured to pull his head away, however the tentacle around his neck and Naraku's hand that held his head to face him was forcing him to keep his head in position. Fortunately there was only a slight tingling of sensation in his forehead after Naraku pulled the pen like item out of his skin, and reabsorbed it back into his own body.

Driblets of blood oozed from the cut, and Naraku watched his handy work before remembering that he still needed to apply the next step to his plan. However he could not resist but to ridicule the demon he had bound, who was glaring with something more than just loath. "Inuyasha, there is no need to appear so distraught. I assure you that this next procedure will not hurt you in the least bit." With that he gently touched the scarred kanji with his forefinger, and then pressed hard on it, causing Miasma to spray out of it as his spell came into effect.

In that instant, Inuyasha let out roar of insufferable pain. It felt as if his blood had suddenly become bubbling hot lava and was trying to erupt through his skin and rip out the bone along with the explosion. If it weren't for the tentacles that bound him to the spot, he was sure his body was about to convulse and then attempt to escape from the layer of skin that covered him. Naraku had definitely been correct; this did not hurt in the least bit. Rather it hurt in the most possible way it could have, not leaving any part of Inuyasha's body free from the pain.

As the pain began to fade away, the kanji in Inuyasha's forehead had now sunk into his skin, disappearing from sight. His eyes slowly began to roll into the back of his head, and his body had felt limp. The tentacles that had convoluted around and throughout his body now withdrew from where they had pierced into his flesh and recoiled back into the ground they had burst from, causing Inuyasha's unconscious body to fall flaccidly to the ground.

Watching the effects of his spell, Naraku chuckled in a deep laugh filled with contempt for the being on the ground and the malevolent mirth of seeing one of his most despised foes reduced to a pathetic heap by his hands. However that joy was short lived, as no sooner had he ceased laughing did he sense a pure energy heading straight towards him. Looking back, he was just in time to see Kagome's Scared Arrow having somehow found its way through his illusion and dissipating the darkness he had created. Not only that but it was heading straight for him.

Without giving the arrow a second to come any nearer, Naraku swiftly surrounded himself in a cloud of Miasma as he used it to escape the purity of the Scared Arrow. By the time it had reached to where Naraku once stood, the evil hanyou was long gone, only leaving a noxious smog of Miasma covering the unconscious Inuyasha. '_This time I suppose I shall allow him to reunite with his friends. However the next time I come, I will be sure that it'll be the last he sees of his friends again._' Those final thoughts had left the forest shivering in fear from the foreboding presence that had left the forest, but without first making a lasting impression.

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **That's the end of my first chapter! So what did you think? Like it, hate it, couldn't be bothered to read it? Please review and tell me what you think. Also if you have any ideas that you would like to see in the fanfic, they're also welcomed!


	2. Transformation

**AN: **First off I'd like to say THANK YOU to YASHA3393, inu-yusukekaiba102 and Sacredarrow22 for reviewing! I'm glad that you all liked my first chapter. Before I get onto my second chapter, there's just a little warning. In this chapter you'll realise why my story was rated M. If you don't like it well...I have a twisted sense of humour so blame it on that, okay? Oh yeah and I unfortunately have just gotten some projects due next week for school so my next chapter will be later (-.-). I might try to update on time by just giving you a shorter chapter...most likely a filler just so that you're not waiting too long. I dunno yet, just depends how my schedule goes. Anyway, now that the bad news is out of the way, TIME FOR THE SECOND CHAPTER!

FYI if anyone out there reads the manga yet got a little bit behind or if you're just curious (like I am) Rumiko Takahashi FINALLY finished Inuyasha! 558 chapters! Gee that's a lot, but then again some manga do have a lot of chapters, just look at Naruto.

Disclaimer: Didn't I just mention above that Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha? Well technically I didn't type that, but it's obviously implied. So I don't own it.

* * *

はじめ。

* * *

**Chapter Two: Transformation**

When Sango had asked what had happened to the Wind Scar, they had heard Inuyasha about to say something before becoming unnaturally silent. As everyone turned to see what had happened to their hanyou friend, Kagome instantly gasped in shock of what she saw – or didn't see. "Inuyasha! He's gone!"

Everyone was astonished at how Inuyasha had left without one person noticing his swift departure. It was only a second ago that he was just standing there. How could anyone disappear so quickly without attracting anyone's attention? The Miasma surrounding them seemed to be pressing in ever so gradually.

"What happened to Inuyasha? Wasn't he standing there just a moment ago?" Shippo asked worriedly, concealing his form behind Kagome's legs, where he had hidden himself the moment the Miasma had leaked into the clearing. His bushy fox tail was shivering from the fear he felt of the possibility that what had happened to Inuyasha might happen to one of them as well. Not to mention he was worried about the hanyou, despite that the older demon would always beat him on the head for his pranks.

After searching what she could see of the clearing and not finding any sign of Inuyasha, Kagome's gaze returned to the spot he had been standing previously before his disappearance. Where could he go without being able to alert any of them of where he was? It obliviously couldn't have been by his own choice that he left, but how did he just disappear? "I don't know, but we have to find him. We need to find him before something happens to him." What if he was hurt at this very moment and needed them there? What if he was fighting for his life, while they were standing there busy wondering? What if…she stopped her thoughts there. If something bad had happened, Kagome was sure Inuyasha could handle it, if not, at least until they found him. '_And we will find him…only if we could get out of this Miasma first._'

Seeing her friend's grip tighten on her bow, Sango could tell that Kagome was worried, more than any of them could have been. Naturally she would; the priestess was much closer to the half dog demon than anyone else had been to him in the group. "Don't worry Kagome. You know it doesn't take that long for Inuyasha to get out of whatever mess he's in and find us." That was very true. Usually Inuyasha came to _their_ rescue. Not the other way around. Well there were certain circumstances but Sango was sure this wasn't one of them.

While everyone conversed of their concerns over this, Miroku appeared deep in thought, contemplating what had just happened. There was something very awkward about this situation, yet it didn't seem like either of his companions had realised this. "Doesn't it seem strange that the moment Inuyasha disappears, Naraku has not said a word since?" Everyone looked at the monk, only now realising what he had figured during their discussion. "You're right. It's like he isn't here." Sango remarked, now beginning to think of what Naraku's possible plan was. "But why do you think he left?"

"Maybe it's because we weren't the intended targets of his plan."

"So you think that he was after Inuyasha all this time?"

"It's possible. It seems more than just a coincidence that as soon as Inuyasha disappears that Naraku's presence can't be sensed." Miroku shrugged slightly. Despite he was sure Naraku's plan revolved around Inuyasha, it didn't make any sense.

"But what would Naraku want with Inuyasha? It's not like Inuyasha has any shards that Naraku wants." Kagome stated, now focusing on the conversation. It was strange. Of all the members of the group, Inuyasha would have to be the least useful to Naraku. Sure he was strong and would be a good addition if someone wanted to make a strong army, yet the fact was that Inuyasha was too stubborn to ever do a thing for Naraku. There wasn't even a chance to control the dog demon; if Naraku did attempt to use some method to control Inuyasha, his full demon would take control and then turn against Naraku. Also Inuyasha wasn't someone that could understand reasoning from an enemy or fall for any endeavour to blackmail him. He was too simple minded to fall for such complicated methods.

Everyone stood in silence as they thought of the possibilities. It clearly wasn't to control Inuyasha or force him to join, that was for certain. It couldn't have been to increase his power. The demon blood in Inuyasha may have been strong, but he was still half human and if Naraku foolishly attempted to absorb him in order to increase his power then he would revert back to being a hanyou himself after all his hard work to finally rid the human part of himself. Not to mention Naraku was convinced that he gained more power from the Shikon Jewel than whatever power any of his foes were possible of attaining. Could it have been to acquire knowledge about – hold on. Knowledge? Since when did Inuyasha know something that Naraku wouldn't have figured? Sure there was the secret to how he kept his hair so shiny and his ears so soft and fuzzy, but why would Naraku go to such lengths for grooming advice? So beauty tips were definitely crossed off from the list.

Suddenly the Miasma sped up, now rushing towards them in effort to suffocate any air that was left in order for the three humans and two small demons to breathe. Quickly Sango had placed her gas mask on, while Kagome, Miroku and Shippo used their hands to cover their mouths. Albeit it was too late in all cases; the Miasma had moved in too fast for any of them to notice so that they had breathed in enough to cause some effect, though little.

"What's going on?! Sango?! Miroku?!" Kagome coughed as she looked around frantically, however the thick gas of the Miasma disabled her sight. "Kagome! Is that you?!" She could just hear Sango call out, followed by a few coughs. "Yeah it's me Sango!" There were also a few coughs down just besides her, where she knew Shippo had been. "Kagome, where is everyone else? I can't see anything."

Apparently Naraku didn't think he needed any of them alive so wanted to finish them off. And all of them knew it. "We need to find a way out of this Miasma. Does anyone know where the way out was?!" That had been Miroku calling out.

Kagome had tried to identify where her friends were by their shouts, although it was no use. With the Miasma poisoning all breathable oxygen, she was beginning to feel dizzy. Either she would suffocate from not breathing, or breathe in the Miasma and die from poison. It felt like a lose lose situation. '_But if I die here then I'll never get to see my family or my friends from my own time again. I'll never get to see my friends from this era too if I don't try something to help them either. I'll never see Inuyasha again…_' She felt her heart stop at this thought.

"I think I have an idea! I'll purify the Miasma with my arrows!" There was no way that Kagome would let Naraku attempt to kill them without her at least giving a fighting chance. Besides, she still had to find Inuyasha. If she gave up now and just let the Miasma poison them all then she couldn't see those golden eyes she came to love so dearly. Pulling an arrow from her quaver, she then notched it into her bow and shot it, hoping that it would not hit Miroku, Sango or Kilala.

The pure pink aura trailed in the air from where the arrow had flew, spreading outward and purifying the poisonous smog. She watched the clearing air, hoping to see her friends again until a sudden familiar sense caught her attention. "Huh?" Spinning round to see what she sure was the Shikon Jewel, she frowned slightly as she could see nothing. "Is something wrong Kagome?" Shippo asked her, noticing how something appeared to have caught her attention.

'_But I was sure I sense the Shikon no Tama. It felt so near too._' Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she grabbed another arrow and readied it in her bow. "It was nothing Shippo, don't…" She trailed off as she felt the presence of the jewel again. '_That time I definitely felt it. And it came from over there again._' Her eyes squinted in order to see the glow of the jewel, yet there was nothing but a purple cloud. '_Why can't I see it though? I'm positive I can sense it. Even now that it's faint I can feel it…it's getting stronger._' If the jewel was near then Naraku was still there. Though it seemed odd that if he had been there, why would he only allow the Miasma to kill them instead of sending his legions of demons to attack in the cover of the Miasma?

"Kagome." Shippo was tugging on her shirt now, having leapt up to sit on her shoulder. "Is there something there? You keep looking off in that direction."

"I think I can sense the jewel." Kagome replied distractedly, still trying to figure how she could sense it but not see the thing.

"Really? Is it over there?"

"I don't know…I can't see it."

"But you said you could sense the jewel."

"I can. But I just can't see it."

"Well then isn't it the same?" Shippo tilted his head to the side, confused slightly. "I mean if you sense it over there then it doesn't matter that you can't see it. If you know where it is then wouldn't it be in the same spot if you could see it?"

Kagome froze. Right now she wanted to slap herself in the forehead so much. It was so simple that it even a child could figure it out. She had just been over thinking on the situation. If she could sense where the jewel was then it didn't matter that she couldn't see it. "You're right! Thanks Shippo." Just then she aimed her arrow in the direction she sensed the jewel.

Concentrating on only the spot where she could sense the jewel, she waited until the right moment until… '_There it is! I can see it._' She released the arrow, sending it flying to where the Shikon Jewel was. As her Sacred Arrow soared its energy cleared the Miasma that was in its way before it soon disappeared. The second her arrow disappeared a bright pink light exploded from the place where her Sacred Arrow had vanished, causing everyone to cover their eyes as it would have blinded them and purified the remaining of the Miasma.

Thankfully it didn't appear that strong as both Shippo and Kilala could withstand the purity of it without any damage. Feeling the fresh, clean air once again, everyone slowly began to lower their arms from where they had brought it up to protect their eyes and looked around the clearing.

Some distance away from where Kagome had shot her Sacred Arrow was a small swirling cloud of Miasma that appeared to be gradually disappearing. Although that hadn't been what caught the group's attention. It was the groan from within it and the slow emersion of long silver hair and white fluffy dog-ears. "Inuyasha?!" Kagome couldn't help but feel her heart swell up as she knew that he was safe, well at least he appeared it. Without waiting for the hanyou to fully turn around, the young girl rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest as the rest of the Miasma was clearing away. "Inuyasha, I was worried that something happened to you!" Funny, his chest felt so soft and bulged of something fleshy. She never remembered this feeling the last time she hugged him, or for any other time for that matter.

"Agh…Kagome?" There was also something odd about Inuyasha's voice. It sounded more high-pitched and even feminine. Something felt very strange with Inuyasha. Slowly she pushed herself off him to stare into those golden eyes of his. "Inuyasha is something wrong- oh kami." She didn't even need to wait for an answer to figure what had been so strange.

"Kagome, why are you looking at me like that? Wait…what the…IS THAT MY VOICE?! I FUCKING SOUND LIKE A GIRL!" Inuyasha shrieked, a face of shock as a result of wondering of what had became of his once masculine voice. He was certain if any demon came and heard him talking now he would have more insults to worry about than the usual comments about his heritage.

Although the expression on Inuyasha's face was nothing compared to Kagome's. As she stared into those perfect golden orbs she noticed that they had belonged to a more rounded and feminine face. His cheeks appeared a little more rosy than usual, his eyelashes were longer and even curled perfectly, his eyebrows had thinned too, and even his lips looked more red and plump, making it appear as though he was wearing lipstick. His hair seemed smoother, and his fringe was no longer sticking up in a messy fashion but rather it was sleek and fell neatly to one side.

Fearfully Kagome allowed her eyes to wander down, the red in her cheeks now burning bright like a beacon in the night. '_Please no. Please no. Please no. Please no. Please don't let that have been what I thought it was._' She begged repeatedly in her head only to have her pleas ignored. As she looked at his once muscle bound body that had been covered by the thick baggy kimono, she noticed three huge differences. The first being that his kimono was no longer a haori with hakama but rather a short dress kimono that was tight and hugged his body perfectly. Secondly she saw how his body had been shapelier, thinner, and emphasized the new hips he had acquired. Last of all, and the most shocking fact as of yet, that where his once firm chest had been there now popped out two rounded and soft breasts which Kagome had now realised she had just pressed her face against as she had expected a firm chest there for her.

"Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no." She closed her eyes and shook her head in denial. She did not just do that! She wanted someone, anyone to tell her that this was all a horrible joke and that in fact when she opened her eyes, Inuyasha would **not** have two bulging breasts where she known his strong and warm chest once was. However fate was not that kind, and as soon as the priestess opened her eyes again she was met with the female Inuyasha.

Unfortunately, Inuyasha did not even know yet that he was a female. He still thought he was male, just with an extremely feminine voice. "Kagome, what's wrong? Why were you looking…" That was where he stopped and decided to take a look at his own body. Big mistake. As soon as he looked down his gaze met two things that he had seen many times before but never on his own body! "What the hell?!" His eyes widened, and gradually the horror on Kagome's face was beginning to appear peaceful compared to the look Inuyasha had just now. "WHAT ARE THESE?!"

After spending a while of looking from a safe distance with Sango and Shippo, Miroku then decided to take a "closer" inspection of the change that occurred in his friend. "Well they appear like breasts to me, Inuyasha." And like any good friend that would support his male friend who had just became a female, Miroku shamelessly reached out and grabbed each breast within each hand and gently squeezed them just to confirm that they were real. "Yep. They are definitely breasts."

It took all of his restraint to not rip his friend apart for doing what he was, so Inuyasha just settled with a hard punch to the head. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU PERVERT! I FUCKING MAY BE A GUY BUT THAT DON'T GIVE YA RIGHT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WHAT HAPPENED AND FEEL MY BREASTS!" Inuyasha wanted to slap himself now. Did he just yell that aloud?! Him. Mister never knew the meaning of femininity even if you gave him a dictionary, actually yelled out probably one of the most feminine things anyone could say. "I can't believe I just said that…"

Miroku was rubbing the lump on his head, having received many before, both from other women and from the hanyou before him. "Calm down Inuyasha. My intention was not what you were thinking. On the contrary I was just helping you confirm if they were real or not." This explanation earned him another bopped on the head. "Bah! Don't give me that bullshit! I may have a different body but I haven't changed! I ain't stupid enough to fall for it that!" Without thinking he placed his hands on his newly widened hips. However as he realised he was doing this he quickly dropped his hands and then stared down at his hips. "What the…oh great those fucking changed too!"

Now that he thought about it, what the hell else changed? Obviously the breasts and the hips were one thing, and so was his arms, hands and legs – that he could now see because his kimono was a short dress. "Kagome…do ya have…a m-mirror?" He was fearing the result of this, but he needed to know.

Snapping out of her own state of shock, Kagome finally found that she was able to move. "Uh…y-yeah." She stuttered slightly, still very embarrassed with what had happened previously. Quickly she went over to where she dropped her yellow backpack and then took some time to find a mirror before giving it to the hanyou. As soon as he had taken it and looked into it, it took about ten minutes (well it seemed like ten minutes to him) before Inuyasha gathered that the being in the mirror was his own reflection. "Fuck! Just…fuck!" Inuyasha turned away from the mirror before taking one daring glance back at the mirror in hopes that the first look had been a mistake and that he was still a male. Unfortunately fate was also against him today. "……FUCK!"

"Well if it's any consolation, at least you were changed into a beautiful female. You actually look better now than when you were a male." Miroku supplied, hoping that it would help Inuyasha, which it didn't. "Of course you would think that, cause it's one more damn butt you can rub while I'm not looking!"

Miroku waved his hands in front of him as if to defend himself. "Inuyasha, I'm hurt that you would ever assume I'd think to do something like that." Although everyone there knew it was a lie. However Miroku couldn't help himself; he could not resist himself around beautiful women and despite what gender Inuyasha was born, right at this moment he was a beautiful woman. Of course he wasn't stupid enough to try and ask him to bear his child – that would be so wrong on so many levels – but it never hurt to feel around and get to know the female body a little better by abusing his friend's predicament?

Adding to the first bump on his head, Sango had grabbed her Hiraikotsu and smashed it down on Miroku's head to cause a second lump. "Miroku, have you no shame?! You're talking about Inuyasha here! Sure he looks like a girl…or is it she now…" She trailed off, now wondering aloud to herself what was the proper term. That was going to be confusion, what term would they call Inuyasha now? They couldn't keep calling him a "he" as he was no longer male, yet they couldn't call him "she" as his proper gender was male and he was going to return to being one. At least they hoped so.

During all commotion Shippo had now leapt onto Inuyasha's shoulder, now getting better look into his face. Noticing that Shippo was staring at him, Inuyasha turned to look at him with an annoyed look. "What are you staring at?"

"Inuyasha, you know how you look now?" There was a small grunt in order for Shippo to know that Inuyasha had acknowledged what he said, though however much he detested it. "Well you remind me of those women that the kistune I used to live with change into to tempt human men. Although they didn't have the white dog ears."

There was a stunned expression on Inuyasha's face, and all he could do was blink. It was bad enough he knew he was a female, but to be told that he was an _attractive_ female was a huge hit to his masculinity. Actually, the fact that he was now a female was a bigger hit, but he'd be damned if he let this set back stop him from behaving like any proper male.

Grabbing Shippo roughly by the tail he then dropped the fox child to the ground and walked off. "Hey! What was that for?!" Shippo had pushed himself up, glaring at the back of the head of the dog demon that was walking away, with his only reply being the oh-so ever-articulate "Feh!"

"What's his problem?! I was just telling him what I thought." Shippo sat up and crossed his arms, pouting.

Having seen this, Kagome finally managed to get her mouth working and uttered the first word she could ever since when she had given Inuyasha her mirror. "Don't worry Shippo, I just think Inuyasha's upset about what happened." He wasn't the only one, she added mentally as she picked up Shippo and ruffled his hair. "I think we should go after Inuyasha though before he…she…er…well before Inuyasha leaves without us." As soon as Inuyasha was in a better mood, they would need to talk about what pronoun they would use to refer to him. That was going to be a joyful conversation.

* * *

It had been a very long, not to mention silent, walk. Ever since what had happened in the morning, Inuyasha refused to talk about what had happened to him – now her, Kagome was just as reluctant to talk on the subject, and both Miroku and Sango found themselves in the middle of a very awkward atmosphere. Sure they had attempted to start a conversation, but it usually ended shortly with the only one-worded replies from Kagome, and indistinguishable grunts from Inuyasha.

However, after that extremely eventless walk, Sango and Miroku had managed to get enough of a response from Kagome and Inuyasha to tell them that they needed to stop for the night. Which brought them here, eating unusually silent as they ate the dinner Kagome had made with the food she brought from her own time.

"So…Kagome this is really good." Sango commented, trying to start some small talk for the umpteenth time. She nudged Miroku, giving him a silent signal to help her. He had just been swallowing some of the food when Sango elbowed him, so he had accidentally swallowed it in one large gulp. "Yeah…this is really something. You must have been working hard in making us this dinner tonight."

"They're just noodles." Kagome replied disinterestedly, picking at hers with her chopsticks.

The monk and slayer looked at each other through the corner of their eyes. Well another failed attempt, so it was time they moved on and hopefully get the demon that can never shut up to talk. "Noodles…well there something different about them. Don't you think so, Inuyasha?" Sango turned to the hanyou who was wolfing down her noodles like nothing had happened, although it was voided from the usual slurping sounds.

However this time, where Inuyasha would have normally stopped half way of eating his noodles, with many strands hanging out of her mouth, instead she continued eating without showing any signs that she acknowledged their presence. When she finished eating, she placed the bowl and chopsticks down then crossed her arms inside her sleeves and closed her eyes, purposely ignoring her friends.

This was becoming tiresome. Sure Sango and Miroku understood that for anyone being suddenly attacked and then forcedly had their gender changed would be an extreme upset, but they had much more important matters at hand and unfortunately Inuyasha was the only one that could answer some of the questions they had. Sighing in slight annoyance, Miroku placed his own bowl down and looked Inuyasha straight in the eye, that is if the half demon's eyes were open. "Inuyasha, I know that you're feeling upset about…"

"Upset?! I fucking ain't upset!" Inuyasha's eyes had snapped open as she replied and suddenly she stood up, both her clawed hands balled into tight fits. "I'M DAMN WELL PISSED OFF! THAT FUCKING CUNT JUST LURED US INTO A TRAP AND THEN HE DAMNED DID THIS TO ME!" It was evident why Inuyasha hadn't spoken until now. She had been literately a time bomb just waiting to explode, yet probably had decided to keep silent to try and calm down a bit. Apparently that didn't work out so well.

Bringing up his hands and motioning them in a way to mean for the demon to calm down, Miroku had tried to patiently continue what he was about to say. "Calm down. Sango and I had only hoped to ask you what Naraku had done to you exactly; we were not trying to cause any hostility." Lucky Inuyasha had been a female at the time, otherwise Miroku would have hit her with his staff by now and told the dog demon to shut up. Although this monk was too courteous to women (well when he's not groping them or asking them to bare his child) for his own good, even if that _woman_ was his best friend that was previously male.

"Ain't it obvious what he's done?! JUST FUCKING LOOK AT ME!"

"Inuyasha, that's not what Miroku meant." Sango now interjected, probably saving the lecherous monk from an ear bashing he had certainly wanted to evade. "We just want to know what went on between you and Naraku during your absence. Besides, I don't know why you're acting so enraged. Being a female is not that bad."

Inuyasha snorted, being more unreasonable than usual. Which in the first place she was headstrong enough to cause the group to gain headaches during conversations with her. "Oh sure, easy for you to say! You were _**born**_ a female! No damn sick bastard split you open and tossed you about like some piece of trash then decided for a fucking twisted laugh to make you a male!"

The male turned female had a strong point there, a point that no one could argue. Sango felt her gaze shift away from Inuyasha, being unable to think of a response to that. She knew that she could try to avoid the topic and attempt to redirect the conversation to asking what her and Miroku were planning to from the beginning yet it seemed like if they had, Inuyasha would just go on about this current topic.

"You're right. None of us have ever been in a similar situation, so no one can possibly understand. Was that what you wanted to hear?" There was only slight murmuring in reply to what Miroku had said. Shortly after Inuyasha had sat back down, and Miroku felt a big relief appeared to be removed. At least they've gotten somewhere. "We are trying to be as supportive as we can, but is it really as bad as you make it appear?"

"Of course it is!" Inuyasha frowned at Miroku, crossing her arms. She was sure the reason her friend didn't think it was so bad because it was just as she said before, another butt for him to grope the second she turned her back. "It's worse than just that."

Blinking at this answer, Sango stared at the hanyou as she decided now of all times to turn away and avoid everyone's eye contact. "Worse? How can it be worse than what we think?"

A slight pink blush rose in Inuyasha's cheeks. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on. You know you can tell us anything about what's going on in this situation."

"I er…well…I ain't gonna say it! Just forget it."

"Are you embarrassed or something?"

"I ain't embarrassed! Just that…I fucking don't have a penis! There I said it!"

Inuyasha bit her tongue after that, which by the way hurt considering she had fangs instead of normal teeth. She could not believe she had just yelled that out. Of course she had been embarrassed, though she didn't want anyone to think that she would be. At seeing Sango's stunned expression she figured that she was just as embarrassed of hearing that word spoken aloud. It wasn't usual that women did talk of male things like that, especially not in front of a male, even if that male was now a woman. "…"

However Miroku remained calm in the matter. Even if Inuyasha was a female, deep down she was still the male companion that was completely clueless when it came to women. Ironic how the one who knew so little about women was turned into the very thing she did not understand. "Is that all? I would think there would be a problem if you were a female AND did have one."

Now Inuyasha's face was as red as her kimono. "Shut up! It's not like that! It's…the next time I have to take my clothes off for anything you know what I'm gonna see?! A damn vagina! How the fuck am I'm suppose to handle that?! I don't go around looking at naked girls, and for however long I'm like this I fucking have to avoid ever looking down _there_." It may have been her own body that she was talking about, but at the moment it did feel very uncomfortable to know that when she did look down there it wouldn't be what she was expecting it to be.

"Well if that was the problem, then as a good friend I will assist by looking for you and…" The lecherous monk never finished his sentence, now sporting two lumps on his head. One being from Sango, and the other from Inuyasha. Both of who were glaring at him at the moment. "Miroku! How could you think like that at this time?! Have you no shame?! You're talking about Inuyasha, you do know!"

While rubbing the two large lumps on his head, Miroku sat up straighter and began answering that with as much dignity as possible despite the fact that the bumps on his head made him look slightly ridiculous. "Of course I know this, Sango. Which was why I never went beyond more than a touch. However, as Inuyasha is a female now I don't find any problem with enjoying the sight of her new assets." It never ceased to amaze the group at how calm and conserved Miroku could appear when talking about his lechery or about how beautiful women looked when they were bathing.

Inuyasha could feel her eye twitching at this response. There were so many wrong things with that; one being that Miroku admitted to actually enjoying how she appeared, despite it was causing her so much misery. Though the thing that really was making the hanyou's blood boil was what the monk said at the end of his sentence. "Who the fuck are ya calling a _her_?!" She stood up, balling her fist with the intention of hitting Miroku on the head again.

Miroku stared at Inuyasha with a surprised expression; he was almost certain that the hanyou would have found something else in his answer more offending than that one simple word. Guess the dog demon could still be unpredictable at the moments you least expected. "Inuyasha, you are aware that you're a female now and…"

"HOW THE HELL COULD I MISS IT?! WE'VE JUST BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT HALF THE NIGHT!"

"Then you should know that it would be inappropriate to continue referring about you with a male pronoun."

"Miroku's right. I know you don't like being this way, but it would be wrong if we kept calling you he or a him." Sango agreed, knowing that what Miroku had said was correct. It wouldn't have been logical to refer to Inuyasha as a male when she was clearly not a male anymore. Sure she did still act the same as before, but whom she was didn't change what gender she was at the moment.

This talk was always eventually about to come up, yet Inuyasha had preferred to have avoided this topic altogether. Many people did think that she was stupid and slow when it came to wit but she did have the common sense to know that everyone was going to think that referring about her as a female was what would be best. It may have technically, but that did not mean that Inuyasha had to accept it. "Who the hell's side are you on?! And I don't give a damn about what either of you say! Just cause I damn look like a female don't mean that I fucking need to accept being called one too!"

"But what's the difference? You're still the same person, aren't you? So why is there such a big deal if they call you a male or a female?" Shippo had watched the adults converse for a while yet couldn't continue to remain quiet any longer. To him the situation seemed quite straightforward. No matter what gender Inuyasha appeared to be, she was still the same stubborn hanyou as always, so it shouldn't have matter what they called her. Although Shippo was still young and didn't think there was much of a difference between males and females besides their appearance.

A crack sounded as Inuyasha flexed her claws threateningly. "You don't know what the difference between a male and female is, eh?" She stared at the fox child with a dark and menacing look that was also reflected in her voice, causing little Shippo to edge away slightly as he feared something bad was about to happen to him. "How about I pound ya and then you can tell me if it hurts more when I was guy or now!" Suddenly she leapt at Shippo, who was expecting this to happen and ran off quickly. And as always, Shippo ran to his usual source of protection.

"KAAAGGGGOOOOMMMEEEEE!!"

Fortunately Shippo had made it behind Kagome just in time, although he was sure he felt Inuyasha's claws just slicing off the tips of fur on his tail. Just stopping herself from colliding with Kagome, Inuyasha pulled back and missed the opportunity to yank Shippo back out when she could. "Damn brat! Get out here and face me like a man!"

Peeking his head out from behind Kagome's protective form, Shippo frowned at the dog hanyou. "I will once you have a face like a man!" Promptly sticking his tongue out after that, quickly Shippo retreated behind Kagome as he could hear Inuyasha's feral growl. Didn't matter how much higher or feminine Inuyasha's voice was now; her growl sounded the same as ever. "Little shit! I'll…"

"Inuyasha."

Immediately Inuyasha froze on the spot, as did everyone else. It had been so long that Kagome had last spoke that everyone almost forgotten that she had been there and listening the entire time. However when she did speak her voice was deadly serious which usually meant one thing for Inuyasha. "Ka-kagome, no, don't…"

"Could you tell us what happened between you and Naraku. I think we've waited long enough to find out." Kagome had kept a straight face while Inuyasha keeled over to the ground. Where was the sit?! This sounded nothing like Kagome. She was behaving way too calm for herself. Everyone watched her, their mouths agape.

Now coming out from behind his hideout, Shippo leapt onto Kagome's shoulder and then placed his small hand on her forehead. "Kagome are you alright?" Something obviously had to be wrong with Kagome for her to react like this. It had been rare but there were moments where Shippo remembered that Kagome would be uncharacteristically calm around Inuyasha, which usually meant she was distressed about something. However Kagome just gently removed Shippo's hand off her forehead. "Yes Shippo I'm fine, I just wanted to know what happened. I mean, it seems like all this happened because of whatever Naraku did, and if we want Inuyasha back to normal then we need to know what happened to…Inuyasha." Usually she would have used a pronoun but as the term "he" didn't fit Inuyasha anymore, she couldn't use that but when she tried to say "she" she felt it impossible for her voice to work.

Ever since the incident with Naraku that left Inuyasha looking like this, Kagome had felt as if she had lost something important to her. It was like something she had always taken for granted and rarely used had been taken away from her yet it hadn't been evident until she needed it. Although she had no idea why she should be feeling this horrible about Inuyasha's transformation. After all, it was understandable that one would get upset when their gender was forcibly changed for them, however it did not affect her in anyway. At least it shouldn't. However her emotions felt otherwise.

Detecting the hint of sadness in her friend's tone, Sango instantly knew what had been upsetting the young woman she had came to think of a sister, so came to her aid by insisting that they moved on. "So Inuyasha, how about you go ahead now and tell us what happened." Just then she elbowed Miroku hard in the ribs as he opened his mouth to say something, though quickly shut it as he muttered an "ow" and rubbed his ribs.

Blinking at Kagome all the time, Inuyasha only slowly glanced back at Sango before sitting up straight and scratching the back of her head. "Well er…I guess so. But there wasn't much, just that bastard attacking me, and then carving something into my forehead before touching it and…and then this happened."

"Do you remember what he carved into your forehead?" Miroku asked, though did take a wary glance at Sango in case she decided to nudge him in the ribs again. Thankfully she hadn't.

Inuyasha turned to Miroku with a flat expression and then pointed to her forehead. "Here is my forehead." Then she moved the same finger to now point to her eyes. "And here are my eyes. So how the hell do ya think I saw?!"

Everyone in the group had the classic anime sweatdrop falling down their foreheads as they realised the flaw in that question. "Well surely you did feel what he was writing on your forehead. So maybe you might recognise the kanji?" Sango suggested, certain that her idea of Inuyasha identifying what was written in her flesh by sense of touch wouldn't have a flaw besides the fact that she could have forgotten.

"Oh yeah, that would be a great idea except for one thing. HOW DO YA EXPECT ME TO IDENTIFY ONE STUPID LITTLE STAB WHEN DURING THAT TIME MY WHOLE BODY WAS BEING RIPPED APART BY A BUNCH OF DAMNED TENTACLES?!" From the tentacles that had weaved their way throughout her flesh like thread stitching up materials, all that remained from the deep gashes were scars from where the wounds had all closed by now. At first Inuyasha refused medical attention, but it did not matter as by the afternoon they had closed, and now the flesh was beginning to grow back over the holes in her body. "Did ya damn forget about my wounds from before or did ya think that I just fucking stabbed myself because I thought it looked good?!"

Turning away and crossing her arms stubbornly, Inuyasha grunted something inaudible to everyone. How could none of them seem to think of those little details? Weren't her friends meant to be the brains of the group? And they thought _s__he_ was stupid. She subconsciously snorted at that thought.

"Inuyasha, at least we're trying. Can't you try to remember something or anything that could help?" Kagome sighed, feeling her annoyance beginning to rise with Inuyasha's attitude. Before it was easy to simply lock herself from the conversations her friends were having but now that Inuyasha was talking as well, and snapping at that, it became harder to ignore.

Looking at Kagome from the corner of her eyes, Inuyasha then spoke in a calmer and serious tone. "…It felt a bit like man'yogana." Everyone's heads spun to face the hanyou, four sets of eyes blinking in confusion. "Inuyasha, what's man'yogana?" Shippo asked as he was now sitting comfortably in Kagome's arms.

"It's the old form of Japanese writing, but it went out over several centuries ago." Miroku explained yet still gave Inuyasha a perplexed look. "Though the question is, how do you know how to recognise man'yogana?"

"Well...they were still using it when I was born, so I guess I never forgot it." Inuyasha merely shrugged, not seeing the big deal about what she had just said. Although this reply seemed to have astonished her comrades. It was common knowledge that demons lived much longer than what humans did, and they already knew Inuyasha had lived for a long time already; so far they knew she had been sealed to the Sacred Tree for fifty years without aging. Yet it was still a mystery at how long she had been alive for. "Inuyasha…just how old are you?" Sango asked, being the first to gain the nerve to ask such a question.

"It's none of ya business! So shut up about it! That includes you too Shippo!" There was a growl emitted as she spoke, and Inuyasha quickly turned to scowl at Shippo who was about to whisper an insult to Kagome about Inuyasha's age. Noticing the canine growling at him as if he were an enemy, Shippo gulped and decided against going through whatever insult he was about to say. Clearly Inuyasha was older than they expected her to be; otherwise why would she get so defensive about a question about her age?

Drawing her gaze nervously away from the angered hanyou, Kagome tried to think of something to change this topic. "Did Naraku say anything to you about why he did what he did to you?" That had caused Inuyasha to stop scaring Shippo by threatening glares and growls, and remember what the initial topic of their conversation was. "Not really…that bastard just pretty much wasted the whole time saying shit about nothing that made any sense. It didn't even have to do with why he brought me there…he expected me to figure it out."

"Brought you where?"

"Dunno. Some cold place that was all dark and smelt like shit. There wasn't anything there besides him and his damn Miasma."

After that reply everyone found themselves with little information but many more questions than before this talk. Where did Naraku take the dog half demon for that period of time? What was it that Naraku exactly did to Inuyasha? Why was it that Naraku didn't attempt to kill any of them when he had the chance? And the most important question; what plan was Naraku conjuring that needed Inuyasha to be a female?!

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **See where my twisted sense of humour comes in? Anyway if you don't like it well then I can't help you there. By the way, for all of you that thought Naraku just randomly changed Inuyasha into a girl because I wanted some reason to explain his gender change, you're all wrong! Naraku never does anything to be random, there is always a devious plan behind all the chaos! Question is, what? Well I'm not going to let out any secrets! So you'll just need to wait and see.

Also I should explain something. I know it was used in this story just to tease Inuyasha bout his age, but in reference to man'yogana it really is the old form of Japanese writing. Mainly the name came about in the Nara period. Which was about several centuries before the Sengoku period. Since in the anime there was some hint in it that Inuyasha had been born several centuries ago (yes there actually was a small hint, and this hint came from Jaken when he was busy thinking to himself. I won't say exactly what it was because it was mainly how I interpret it, but the next time you watch Inuyasha and there's a part where Jaken was thinking about Sesshomaru, pay attention and you might actually see the episode where he gave a hint to Inuyasha's age) in accordance to my theory, Inuyasha would have been born roughly the same time that the Japanese still used man'yogana so would have learnt to use that instead of the current Japanese. Which was why he knew how to recognise it despite that he never saw the character. I think currently they would probably be using hiragana or katakana...I'm not so sure but maybe even hentaigana? I'm no expert on this, I just know a little bit.


	3. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

**AN: **Sorry I'm late with the update (rhyme not intended) but it was only by two days, right? Well actually it was one day, but I stayed up all night finishing it off just so that you all wouldn't have to wait that much more than the usual time I update, especially after I made you wait another week.

My reason for the later-than-what-I-said update was because since last week I had that stupid assignment to do (which by the way the whole class ended up grabbing and passing around to look cause I drew all over it hehe although I didn't mind cause it was nice knowing that people liked it) so I couldn't even write one word for the story. As a result, I needed to start from scratch at the beginning of this week, but then I got sick from Tuesday - Saturday from a horrible flu...in flu season. Stupid flu season. So obviously most of my week was gone due to illness, although I got to stay home all week so I did have some time to type, but when you're sick, you know that you just really can't be bothered, so I didn't do much during then. I did most of it on Sunday and Monday, and then I stayed up the entire night to finish the story, it's almost daylight outside! Again sorry for making you wait longer than usual after already waiting another week for me to update.

Now that the apology is over and done with, I would like thank First and the Last Spartan and YASHA3393 for reviewing! Oh by the way, I never had time to double check so there's bound to be a lot of mistakes, or sentences that don't make sense. If you see any, tell me and I'll fix it as soon as I have time. Now on with the story.

Disclaimer: I own Inuyasha! I own Inuyasha! I - wakes up Huh? Was that a dream? Damn...well then I don't own Inuyasha, sadly.

* * *

はじめ。

* * *

**Chapter Three: Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid**

Once the gang had awoken to the next day, when they began packing to leave, things had almost gotten back to normal, with the exception that Kagome still felt horrible about all that had happened, and that Inuyasha was still a female. Which all morning she had decided to remind everyone in the loudest way possible. "FUCK! I CAN'T EVEN JUMP INTO A TREE WITHOUT YOU DAMN BEING A FUCKING PERVERT!"

"Inuyasha, honestly I wasn't trying to do anything unscrupulous, I wasn't even aware that you had leapt into that tree until I looked up." Miroku was slowly edging away from Inuyasha, who was rolling her sleeves up to pound her friend. All morning Inuyasha had been finding some problem and spent the better of the morning yelling her head off. This time she was complaining about what had just happened recently. Just seconds ago, Inuyasha had decided to leap up into a tree, as she usually does, while she waited for Kagome and Sango to finish packing so that they can leave. However, it was by coincidence that Miroku was already standing under that same tree, and when he looked up after hearing the sound of something landing on the branch above him – let's just say he had a good view of what was under Inuyasha's kimono. Too bad Inuyasha's wardrobe change didn't include giving her something to replace the fundoshi with.

Of course when Inuyasha noticed that Miroku had looked up, she instantly jumped out and chased the monk, yelling many expletives and threats at him while Miroku smartly ran away from the enraged hanyou. Although Miroku swore that he did not know Inuyasha was up there and it was by accident, Inuyasha would have nothing of it. Unfortunately for once in Miroku's life, he was telling the truth when he had said he did not mean to look, yet no one believed him.

"DO YA EXPECT ME TO FUCKING BELIEVE THAT SHIT?!"

Miroku sighed wearily but continued running from the demon that chased him still. "But I'm telling the truth!" It seemed a miracle that he still managed to evade Inuyasha's clutches, being that demons were much faster than what humans were. It was probably the fear of what Inuyasha was going to do to him once she caught him that caused Miroku to harness a speed that he didn't know he had, and that could manage to keep him away from a demon for this long. "BULLSHIT! JUST FUCKING WAIT UNTIL I GET MY CLAWS ON YA THEN I'LL POUND THE DAMN TRUTH OUT OF YA!"

'_I had always dreamed that one day I would be chased by beautiful women, however I did not think that it would be because they're about to kill me. Or that it would be by my friend in desperate need of anger management._' After about fifteen minutes of running at the speed he was, Miroku wanted nothing more to do than to just drop to the ground and rest, of course with Inuyasha hot on his heels he didn't even dare slow to down. Rather the thought of a few of the possibilities that laid in store for him actually caused the monk to run even faster.

Watching the two males – well one male and one male turned female – Sango sighed just as tiredly as if she had been the one running from Inuyasha instead of Miroku. "I don't know why Miroku keeps insisting on behaving the way he does…as much as he deserves this, Inuyasha is beginning to annoy me. Do you want to do the honours?"

Kagome looked up at the two that were running around the clearing they had camped in before facing Sango. "I don't know…it doesn't feel right saying that in these circumstances." She sighed silently and then stood up. Sango also stood up and turned her complete attention to her friend. While the demon and monk were busy playing cat and mouse (well in this case more like dog and mouse) the two females had enough time to talk about what had been troubling Kagome. So by now Sango knew what had been bothering her. "Is it really that hard? All you need to do is say sit."

"It's not the same as before. It would feel strange doing that to…" There was a pause where once again Kagome struggled in using a pronoun to refer to Inuyasha. Ever since last night, Kagome had much time to dwell on the situation. Now that Inuyasha was a female, despite that she behaved as if she were still male, the relationship they had with each other could no longer be the same as it was before. Truthfully, even when she was a male the state of their relationship was always questionable. Neither knew of how the other thought, and, as none bothered to make a move or to further this relationship it had remained stagnant and unclear.

However, Kagome had always been certain of one thing. She loved Inuyasha. Well, _did_ love him. That was until he became a female and suddenly was beyond that reach of affection. This was why she had not sit her yet. Last night she resolved that she no longer had the right to. It may not have made much sense but the Beads of Subjugation around Inuyasha's neck was a tie of their relationship – their relationship as a male and female – and sitting her was the power granted by that bond, despite that it was painful and unwilling from Inuyasha's part. When she sat her, she did it because she did care for Inuyasha (and that she annoyed her on so many occasions that the sitting was just a bonus for her to vent) and intervened in stopping her rash and violent decisions with that sit because Kagome wanted to help her by stopping her from making grave mistakes with her violent resolutions.

Of course Inuyasha never did like being sat, and Kagome, though seen as adult in this era, was still not a fully grown woman in her own time period and had not matured enough to realise that this method puts more strain on their relationship and did little to change the hanyou's mind. Although that didn't matter anymore. Now that Inuyasha was a female, and because Kagome was not a homosexual, their relationship would just stay as them two being friends, and Kagome knew that she should not push that boundary, and sitting the half demon definitely went beyond the boundary of being just friends. Besides, she would never hurt another female friend, which now included Inuyasha.

Biting her lip, Kagome turned to see Inuyasha still chasing Miroku and yelling many threats to rip the monk's eyes out before turning back to Sango who was staring at her in confusion as her friend just randomly blanked out. "No…I can't do that anymore. It wouldn't be the same to sit…" There was a crash and instantly both females stood up and turned to see what had caused it.

In the ground, Inuyasha was now in a hole, twitching slightly as she was trying to pull herself out. Kagome covered her mouth as she realised what she had just done. "Oh sorry Inuyasha! I didn't mean to."

Miroku had finally stopped running, and collapsed into a sitting position on the ground, panting heavily. "Thank Buddha! I thought that she'd never stop chasing me!" His legs felt like lead, and seemed almost impossible to move, not to mention that his feet felt like they were about to fall off. Never did Miroku think he was capable of running that fast, or of managing to keep away from Inuyasha for that long. He was sure after that run he would never have to work out again. No wonder Inuyasha was always so thin despite she ate everything that was edible that one would put in front of her; running like that for just ten minutes and you would lose over twenty kilograms of fat! "I think I've done enough running…for a life time."

Watching as the rest of Miroku's body collapsed to the ground, glorying in not needing to move a muscle, Sango felt concern rising for the monk. "Maybe we should have intervened earlier…I don't think he can get up now."

"Yeah, I've never seen any human run that fast before." Shippo added, sitting besides Kilala who was blinking at the scene before her, meowing in agreement with him. "I was sure Inuyasha would of caught him long before now."

Inuyasha had finally pulled her entire body out from the hole that was shaped in her form, imprinted in the ground. Though she was still angry with Miroku, she decided instead to round on Kagome. "What the hell was that for, Kagome?! That pervert deserved it for what he did!"

Feeling her cheeks turn red now, Kagome knew how this argument would turn out, although this time she knew that she couldn't sit the demon for it. For once, they would need to work out the argument for themselves. Too bad that that was on the borderline of impossible. "I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to say it…I was talking to Sango and then the word just slipped out."

"It just slipped out?! You expect me to believe that?!" Inuyasha was in complete shock of what she was hearing. Usually she would be getting something along the lines of that she was annoying them, or that she shouldn't be trying to kill Miroku. Anything but that. "You're fucking always sitting me whenever you can't get your own way, and you're here telling me it just slipped! What?! The next time you're gonna say that "you forgot"! Is that it?!"

Kagome felt at a loss for words. During the one time she actually apologises, Inuyasha has to start yelling at her for it as if she was doing this on purpose to annoy her. After a few attempts at opening her mouth to speak, yet failing, finally she managed to get the words out. "What do you mean I do that just to get my own way?! I don't! I only say that when you're about to do something that you'll regret!"

Scoffing audibly at that remark, Inuyasha then crossed her arms. "That's bullshit and you know it! How the hell do you know what I'll regret and what I won't?! I've lived years without having someone telling me what to do and now you think that I need someone to tell me what I'd actually feel after beating the snot out of some bastard that's asking for it?!"

"Inuyasha! You can't solve everything by violence! Besides, picking a fight with someone that isn't as strong as you isn't right, and you know it!"

"Picking on someone weaker than me?! Since when have I've done that?!"

"You're always doing that to Shippo! And any other kid that's been around that's annoyed you! Not to mention you were about to attack Miroku and you know he won't hit you back while you're in this condition!"

"That's cause you fucking only see me hitting him! You damn never see when he's fucking pranking me to get me purposely in trouble! And you expect me to let Miroku go when he fucking took a look up my kimono?!"

"Maybe I don't see what Shippo does to you but that gives you no right for hitting him! No wonder he's always pranking you because you're always hitting him! As for Miroku, you know that he's a lecher so you should have been smart enough to not jump in a tree that he was standing under!"

With the last ounce of strength he had, Miroku forced himself to sit up and coughed, interrupting the two females' fight. "For the record, let me just say that I was not aware that Inuyasha was above me, nor that she didn't wear anything decent under her kimono." However that comment got both girls glaring at him for interrupting, and the monk noticeably winced at the intensity of the two glares. "Nevermind…just continue and forget that I said anything."

Coming to the monk's rescue, Sango walked over to Miroku and helped him up to his feet. "Come on Miroku, let's get you out of the way before the two of them decide to take their anger out on you instead." The slayer huffed slightly as most of Miroku's weight was being supported by her. "By the way, if you try to rub my butt, I'll have no problem tossing you back at Inuyasha and letting her deal with you."

Though he would have rather that Sango didn't carry him as he assumed his weight would be too much for her, Miroku was resigned into allowing Sango to continue with what she was doing as he wasn't able to support his own weight. "Thank you Sango…and you wouldn't seriously give me to Inuyasha for her to deal with me?! At least when she was a male I could defend myself, but now…I now know what the exact fates are of men who cross a demoness." After the events of what had happened, Miroku was beginning to miss the male Inuyasha – well more like being able to smack the common sense into Inuyasha's head when the hanyou was threatening him.

With that distraction out of the way, both Kagome and Inuyasha turned their heated glares back at each other. Albeit Inuyasha shortly ended their eye contact as she turned away with her arms crossed. "You know what, just forget it. There ain't any point going through all this when you're going to avoid it."

Her hands balled at her side, turning into fists. It was taking all of Kagome's will power to not yell sit as loud as she could. She already decided that she would no longer do that because of what happened to the dog demon. "I'm not avoiding anything, Inuyasha!"

"Yes you are!"

"I'm not!"

"You did! Just before you went on how it's not "right" to hit others, even though that fucking has nothing to do with the fact that you just damn sit me cause you can't get your own way!"

"I was not avoiding anything! I only said it because it's true! The way you want to work things out isn't right and you'll regret it later on!"

"You fucking don't even know what I'll regret! Also you don't damn sit me just for that bullshit! You sit me heaps of times just cause you can't get your own way!"

"I do not say that word just because I can't get my own way! You're only trying to make excuses for the fact that you know I'm right for saying that word when you're going too far!"

"Too far?! How about yesterday when you damn sat me just because you had to slow everyone down with your damn problem!"

"No! I s-i-t you because you had to yell out for everyone to hear what the problem was!"

"How about the day before when you sat me just because I didn't like that stupid noise making thing you brought!"

"It's called a CD player, and I only did that because you broke it!"

"And I told you it was an accident! I fucking couldn't turn it off!"

"So what made you think tossing it at a tree would of turned it off without breaking it?!"

Inuyasha turned away now, scratching the back of her head. Well technically she didn't really care about turning it off properly, she just wanted to stop that noise it was making that made her want to rip her ears out. "…It's hard to think with that stupid noise pounding in your ear drums." She muttered, realising that they were getting off track, and that her point was beginning to weaken. "Well…what about when we were at that fork in the road and you sat me just cause you wanted to go left when I said we should of gone right!"

"I sat you because you were calling me an offensive name!"

"Feh! Like you weren't doing to same to me!"

Kagome paused to think about that. That incident happened about three days ago, and by now she wasn't completely sure what had happened. Well she remembered that they wanted to go different ways, and then they got into an argument, where she called him a stupid jerk and Inuyasha called her a bitch then she sat him. '_Wait…was he talking about me calling him a stupid jerk? That's hardly the same as calling someone a bitch though…did he really get insulted when I said that? He never acts like it…then again he barely ever shows what he's truly feeling._' Shaking those thoughts out of her head, Kagome turned her attention back to the argument. "Oh that…so it was just one time where I just overreacted! Besides, you can't say that calling someone a stupid jerk is the same as calling someone a bitch!"

"Yeah but I only called you a bitch once but you called me a stupid jerk three times!"

"No, I didn't. I first said you were stupid, then a jerk, then a stupid jerk. There's a difference."

It took a lot for Kagome to not smirk at the flabbergasted look Inuyasha had. She looked sort of like a fish, opening and closing her mouth with no sound coming out. Maybe there was something to winning an argument without the use of sit; especially when Kagome knew she could put her point across and win, considering that at this point she seemed to be getting the better of Inuyasha. A small grin appeared on her face, and Kagome could not hide it. "So Inuyasha, was that all or was there another point you wanted to make?" She was definitely feeling better for the first time since that attack from Naraku.

Now it was Inuyasha's turn to shake her head to clear her thoughts. This was probably the first time that they actually argued about how Kagome used the sit command on her as an advantage to get her way, without her having already sat the half demon to shut her up, and she was actually losing. She had this feeling that she was never going to get this chance again, and right now she had to be sure she won the argument so that Kagome wouldn't keep thinking that when she sat her, it was justifiable. '_Fuck…she's beating me. But there's no way I can lose this argument…if I do she's just gonna go around thinking that she's always in the damn right by saying that stupid word._'

Suddenly one argument appeared in Inuyasha's mind that she knew would be fool proof, although the problem was that it was a low and dirty point to use. She had half the mind to forget it, not wanting to bring up something that sensitive to the both of them, yet the way Kagome seemed so confident that she would win made Inuyasha want to just screw the sensitivity of the topic and bring it up just to win. "Yeah I do have another point actually. Do ya remember over a week ago when you said I could go look for Kikyo but when I came back you sat me cause you thought we were doing something other than what I told you?"

That had literately wiped the smirk off Kagome's face. She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. Inuyasha was bringing up this topic purposely when she knew how much it hurt her just to think of it. She wanted to slap herself, convinced that she wasn't hearing this. However she knew it was real; if she was dreaming Inuyasha would still be a male – that she was certain of. "How could you bring this…you were lying! I only did that because you-"

"And suddenly you know when I'm lying or not?! You weren't even there! What the hell gave you the reason to think we talked about something other than Naraku! Besides, I didn't even need to tell you what we were talking about! I only told ya what she said about Naraku cause I knew that the rest of ya would want to know!"

"Don't act as if I don't know what the two of you do when I'm not around. I did see you two when she…" Kagome paused, unable to finish that sentence. She remembered that time they kissed so long ago, yet the memory was still fresh in her mind.

Inuyasha sighed, knowing exactly what Kagome was talking about. "Fucking hell Kagome! That was over six months ago just when we learnt about Naraku! Do ya think that by now I'd stopped thinking about that bastard long enough to want to do anything else?!" More like, she wanted any excuse she could find to prolong the decision of choosing between the two girls, but that answer sounded better than the truth.

"You waited fifty years and still you couldn't stop thinking of her! You expect me to believe that a period of six months would change that when fifty years couldn't?!"

"Damn you're stupid! I was fucking asleep for those fifty years! It only felt like one fucking second to me!"

"Don't call me stupid!"

"I will when you stop being so stupid!"

Kagome glared intensely at the hanyou, despite that inwardly she felt completely horrible about what had been said. Though she said she wouldn't sit the male-turned-female, now she couldn't care less. Inuyasha, no matter what gender she appeared to be, was still the same insensitive jerk as always. "**SIT**!" With the resounding crash of Inuyasha's body, everyone knew that the half demon had indeed been on Kagome's last nerve. "I TRY TO BE NICE TO YOU AND NOT **SIT** YOU…" There was another crash from the demon as she purposely said that word. "…AND YOU HAVE TO START YELLING AT ME JUST BECAUSE I ACCIDENTLY SAID **SIT**…" Thunk. "…AND EVEN APOLOGISED FOR SAYING **SIT**!" Thunk. "NOW YOU HAD TO BRING ALL THIS UP JUST TO MAKE ME FEEL BAD BECAUSE I **SIT**…" Thunk. "YOU WHEN YOU DESERVE TO BE **SIT**TED!" Another crash from the hanyou; Kagome didn't care that her last sentence was grammatical incorrect, just as long as she got to say sit as many times as she could.

Nothing could be seen now of Inuyasha's body as she was buried deep in a five metre hole. However, Kagome could not have cared any less about what had happened to Inuyasha due to her sit commands and stormed off angrily, fuming as she thought of that "stupid jerk".

After watching all this from a safe distance, Sango turned to Miroku who was giving her a look that they both knew meant that she should go after Kagome. "I think this time it'll take longer than usual…try not to do something stupid to Inuyasha and get killed while no one is here to save your sorry ass." Miroku nodded and used his Shajuko to lean on, as Sango was about to go off after Kagome. "Trust me Sango, after what happened this morning I doubt I would make that same mistake again." However Sango doubted this, yet she had no other choice other than to run off after Kagome, with Kilala following behind the slayer.

Now that both girls' were out of sight, Miroku sighed and turned to look at Inuyasha who was still buried deep in the hole all the sit commands made. "Inuyasha, you do know this time you did go too far with what you said?" There was nothing but a groan from the hanyou as her response.

"I hope Kagome forgives you for what you said. How can you be so stupid and say that to her?!" Shippo was now reprimanding the older demon, who was just now able to push her form out from the imprint she made in the dirt. Without replying to either male, Inuyasha simply shook the dirt from her hair before looking at the two males that watched him. "What?"

"Did you not just hear what we said?" Miroku asked, staring in confusion as he noticed that Inuyasha didn't seem as angry as she usually would be after getting such a severe sitting. Worried that something had damaged the dog demon's mind during the sit commands, Shippo jumped onto Inuyasha's head and tapped on it with his small fist. "Did all those sit commands finally get to you?"

Standing up and brushing the dust off her kimono, Inuyasha then grabbed Shippo by the tail and tossed him in Miroku's direction. "Stop that! There's nothing wrong!" Fortunately Miroku quickly caught the fox demon before he had landed into something else that would of caused him harm upon impact. Rubbing his head despite he was not injured, Shippo then glared at Inuyasha. "What d'ya do that for?! It's not like you felt anything with that thick skull of yours!"

"Shut up Shippo! You're lucky that this time I'm letting you off!" Folding her arms inside her sleeves, the two males stared at the male-turned-female in utter bafflement. "Inuyasha, is there some reason why you seem so…well you're not your usual irritant self after all those sit commands." Miroku stated warily, now fearing that something indeed was wrong with her head.

"Actually there is. Kagome just sat me." Of course that statement just caused further confusion on Miroku and Shippo's part. Something definitely was wrong with Inuyasha now; at least that's what they thought. However, seeing their lost expressions, Inuyasha clarified. "Do I need to spell it out for ya? Cause she sat me it meant that I was right! She can't get her own way unless she sits me!" Two sounds of flesh slapping flesh followed this statement, and now it was Inuyasha's turn to blink in confusion as she watched both Miroku and Shippo slap their foreheads in unison. "Are you sure that maybe there's nothing wrong with you two instead of me?"

Both the monk and kitsune could not believe what they heard. How could anyone be so simple-minded as to be happy for winning an argument after getting sat into a five metre deep hole? Now the two were convinced, there was nothing wrong with Inuyasha due to the sit commands. There was just something _always_ wrong with her that even centuries of therapy couldn't help.

* * *

It had been about three days since then, and now the village was coming up into view. Kagome had been riding on Kilala with Sango, not having forgiven Inuyasha since that argument. Not only did she prove the priestess wrong – which was really annoying since she'd been so smug about it ever since – but she had to drag in Kikyo of all things! If she had won the argument by any other method Kagome could forgive, but having to involve her insecurity about the dog demon being with Kikyo was too much for her. Since then, she hadn't said one word to the hanyou, feeling that if she did she would just yell another string of sit commands until Inuyasha was bleeding from the impact.

Of course realising that she had been thinking of such things made Kagome feel even worse. She wasn't a violent person by nature, yet after what Inuyasha had done she was thinking of doing so many violent things, towards her no less. All because she had purposely brought up something to evoke all these emotions just to win a stupid argument, and she didn't even seemed to have noticed what she'd done wrong.

So this had left Inuyasha to run on her own, and Miroku needing to summon as much spiritual power as possible to run at a speed to keep up with the two demons over such long periods of times. However, he needed to rest much more than Inuyasha and Kilala did, but to the monk's credit, he did well enough to keep up with them for hours at a time. And whenever Miroku needed to stop to catch his breath, because Inuyasha didn't want to stop, Shippo would offer to carry Kagome instead while Miroku got on Kilala with Sango. Though in his balloon form, Shippo was slow at moving, so Inuyasha had been pushing the kitsune during this time to allow him to keep up.

With this teamwork, the group managed to get back in record time, despite the complications caused because of Kagome's refusal to ride on Inuyasha. Albeit the hanyou excused it, thinking that Kagome's refusal came from the fact that she was a girl now, rather than it was from the argument. But since Inuyasha never bothered to voice this opinion, no one had been able to correct this theory.

"It's about time! I thought we'd never get there." Inuyasha exclaimed, now speeding up to hurry to the village. "Come on! I'm not gonna wait around for the lot of ya!"

Kilala growled tiredly, not being able to get much rest since Inuyasha had been pushing the group to get here as soon as possible. Even Shippo was panting, still tired from his own turn of carrying Kagome to allow Miroku time to rest. "Inuyasha, you've been pushing us for the past three days! Can't you be patient for even a minute?!" Sango called out, letting Kilala go at the current pace she was at, not at all concerned if Inuyasha got too far ahead or not.

Though she knew that everyone else was falling behind, the dog demon continued to speed up. "NO! I CAN'T TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE OF BEING LIKE THIS!"

After Sango had managed to calm Kagome down enough to get her back with the group and to not strangle Inuyasha, Miroku had suggested that they should go to Kaede and see if she knew of a way to lift the spell Naraku had placed on Inuyasha. Of course everyone had been surprised by the fact that Miroku came up with this idea, seeing as he was the only one to find Inuyasha's transformation beneficial. However, Sango suspected that the groups of large lumps adored on the monk's head had done much in swaying him.

Ever since then, Inuyasha had been impetuous on returning as soon as possible, causing her to ignore the needs of rest that her friends required. Though there had been many arguments about the fact that Inuyasha didn't allow them to rest as much as they need, no one seemed capable of disagreeing with her after Inuyasha had decided to run off ahead, along with Kagome's yellow bag that contained all their supplies and everyone's weapon.

Needless to say, despite the shock of Inuyasha's action astonishing the group for a good five minutes, no one was willing to risk being left alone in the forest with no supplies or any weapons to protect themselves just for a few hours of much needed rest. Thus this was why they allowed her – however begrudgingly – to push them as much as she did without as much rest as they needed to have. No one wanted a repeat of Inuyasha running off with all their supplies and weapons and just leaving them in a forest, not to mention that Inuyasha still carried their supplies because she didn't trust that they wouldn't try to do something to force her to stop so they could rest.

"Why didn't we just let Inuyasha go off ahead to the village on her own? I mean, we all know the way back so it's not like we couldn't have gotten here without her help. We could of had a rest then. Besides…I'm hungry and she won't let us stop to eat anything!" Shippo groaned before a small grumble could be heard coming from his stomach. They had barely had breakfast that morning since Inuyasha had rushed it before grabbing the supplies and threatening to run off with it if they didn't hurry up and finish what they had, and now it was pass lunch time yet they hadn't stopped to eat.

Glancing back to see if Kagome was going to answer this, Sango noticed that instead the reincarnated priestess had turned away, obviously not wanting any part of the conversation since it had to do with the person she was currently angry at. Sighing, Sango then turned back to look at the kit who was sitting on Kilala's head. "Because if we did then we would have been left without any supplies or weapons."

Blinking for a moment, Shippo stared ahead of him as he recalled that Inuyasha had taken all their supplies and weapons then ran off to coerce them into following her. Although afterwards, everyone began to doubt that if Inuyasha would really do that, no one had actually want to take that chance that Inuyasha wouldn't be gain enough to just leave them without supplies or weapons. "Oh yeah…I remember." Then he turned back to look at Sango, who was still watching him. "That stupid Inuyasha. Why did she threaten to do something like that?"

"Well, desperation causes people to act irrational. And I think Inuyasha has had enough of being female and is desperate to return to being male."

"So then…why did we have to come? Couldn't she have gone on ahead, be turned female and then come find us when she's a male again?"

"Uh…" Sango froze, not knowing how to answer that. Truthfully she hadn't much thought of that; she had been too busy these past days telling Inuyasha off for not letting them rest enough and that they couldn't match the pace she was going. "Shippo, I really don't know what was going through her mind at the time."

Kilala had been slowing down now, flying lower as now the village was in sight, she decided not to wear herself out when the village was so close. Everyone seemed to have noticed this, yet none of them had cared as much since they were all tired out from the journey here. After a while of staring ahead, Shippo muttered something about how inconsiderate Inuyasha had been to leave them behind as they could just barely make her form already near the village before looking back at Kagome who had been quiet throughout the conversation. "Kagome, what do you think?"

Snapped from her thoughts, Kagome blinked at the fox demon before forcing a smile, trying not to show the fact that she at the moment didn't want to talk about Inuyasha. "Think about what, Shippo?"

"You know. Why do you think Inuyasha acted so crazy and did all she did to make us come with her?"

Noticing that her friend's grip seemed to have tightened on her and feeling the uncomfortable feeling in her aura, Sango interjected to save Kagome from replying. "Shippo, I don't think this is the time." She whispered to the kit, who looked at Sango for a moment before understanding and then nodded. "Nevermind Kagome…it's not that important." He replied sweetly before turning around to look ahead again.

Seeing what the slayer in front of her had done, Kagome then whispered a small "thanks" to her, knowing well that she had told Shippo not to ask because of how she felt. The demon exterminator only nodded and muttered a "no problem".

Having missed most of the conversation that was going on the feline demon, Miroku had called out to the two females in order for them to hear him. "I know that it's been a long time since we last rest, and that we're almost there but shouldn't we try to catch up to Inuyasha? She already went into the village, and I just realised that because of her being female, she's most likely to cause a lot of trouble now – especially if anyone doesn't recognise her immediately."

At first, Sango had wanted to reply with a "what trouble could she possibly cause in the time that we're not there?" however she stopped herself when her mind began to play images of what could of happen, all of them somehow ending with half the village being destroyed, if it was lucky. Shaking her head clear of those disastrous thoughts, she then looked at the monk. "You're right. Kilala, I know that you're tired but do you think that you can fly faster?" There was a disgruntled groan from Kilala, who was worn out yet she did give a soft roar to confirm that she could fly faster and did so. Sango was now stroking the giant cat's head, knowing well that Kilala was going beyond her limit just to comply. '_After this Kilala, I promise that you'll get a well deserved and long rest._'

With the rising concern of possibilities of what Inuyasha could have been doing while they were still in the forest, the group managed to increase their speed despite that they were exhausted, arriving to the village in less than five minutes. The moment Sango and Kagome got off Kilala, the nekomata reverted to her domestic form before giving a weak meow and then collapsing from that exhaustion. "Kilala!" Sango hastily picked up her demon companion, cradling her in her arms affectionately.

The small cat meowed contently yet warily before falling immediately to sleep in her mistress' arms. Sighing in relief, Sango stroked her fur to further comfort the kitten. "Will she be okay?" Noticing all her friends now watching her with concerned expressions, Sango looked up and at them. "Yeah she'll be fine, Kagome. She just needs to rest."

Smiles were exchanged between the two females, although they were only half-hearted smiles. Before anything else could be said, a scream from a male that sounded very high-pitched – that could be arguably female – could be heard throughout the village. This caused everyone's attention to be alert, though they all had this sinking feeling that they knew the cause of the scream. "Maybe you should go check that out." Miroku suggested through his panting that had yet to slow to even breaths.

"Us? Aren't you coming?" Kagome asked with a raised brow, while Sango's eyes stared at the male suspicious, as if expecting him to be up to something. Taking a deep breath in, Miroku then shook his head, smiling sheepishly. "I'm afraid I'm still tired from the run here…I'll get there eventually but I need the time to catch my breath. Go on, I'll know where you are by following the sounds of the screaming." As if on cue, the scream could be heard again, only louder.

"I guess we don't have time to waste here and question him." Sango sighed in defeat, but still very doubtful of Miroku's intentions. "But if I find out that you faked all this just to go around flirting, you'll never be able to run – or walk for that matter – again." Metaphoric flames flickered around her, enhancing the affect that the message had on the monk, who was now edging away jadedly in fear. "My dear Sango, if I'm too tired to try and grope you while your hands are currently too preoccupied to slap me, then what makes you think that I'd be able to go around flirting with other woman?"

Strangely Miroku had a point, and the freaky thing about it was that it was actually true and not some bunch of logical lines and sophisticated words strung together to make a of his lie sound convincing enough to be considered truthful. "Sango, I think for once that we can actually trust Miroku not to do anything. He's obviously too tired if he hasn't even tried to grope you and admits it." Kagome reasoned, gaining a nod from her friend. "Alright, let's go." The two females then ran, though Shippo stayed behind with Miroku. "Shippo, stay here and make sure Miroku keeps out of trouble, just to be sure!" Kagome called back, causing the monk to sweat drop at the distrust the girls had for him whenever he was alone.

Further they ran into the village the more distinguishable the screams were. Now they could hear a feminine yell along with it, although unlike the first one, the feminine yell seemed extremely angry and (once they were near enough) filled with the colourful language that they've only known one person to contain. Just no sooner had they heard the last few yells of expletives did the duo come across the scene of Inuyasha holding a petrified young man by the neck of his clothes. "F-f-forg-g-give m-m-me! I-I-I d-d-did-d-dn't kn-n-n-ow! I-I-I j-j-just th-th-thought-t-t…"

"THOUGHT WHAT YA BASTARD?! YOU FUCKING BETTER NOT SAY THAT YOU FUCKING THOUGHT I WAS FUCKING BORN THIS WAY!!"

The man audibly gulped, indeed thinking that yet did not dare to confirm it. However, the growling from Inuyasha due to his silence coerced the man into saying something just to not die. "P-p-please d-d-don't k-k-kill m-m-me!"

Quickly coming to the man's rescue, Sango ran over to Inuyasha, speaking loud enough for her to catch the hanyou's attention. "INUYASHA! What are you doing?! _Let go_ of him! You're scaring the shit out of him!"

Glancing over her shoulder to look at the slayer momentarily, Inuyasha just as soon returned her fierce glare back to the trembling man. "SO WHAT?! I SHOULD DAMN KILL THIS ASSHOLE FOR WHAT HE FUCKING SAID!!" And just to emphasise the fact that she was serious about killing this man, she gave the male a violent shake with such force that his head almost appeared like it would have fallen off if it weren't attached and his limbs rolling about in their sockets like they were out of his control. A small girlish wail of fear came from the man; his masculinity being loss with each second that he was still in Inuyasha's grip.

If only she weren't holding Kilala, Sango swore that she would have grabbed Inuyasha's neck and strangled her just to get her to stop. She could understand if Inuyasha was angry because the man he held had offended her, yet the way Inuyasha had scared this man so much that he was reduced to nothing more than a blubbering mass of gelatine abandoned in the dirt was much more than necessary to get her point across. "If you don't stop threatening and intimidating that man then when I put Kilala down I promise I will punch you so hard in the face that Sesshomaru will feel it!"

Unfortunately that did not have the required effect that Sango had hoped for. "Feh! I fucking don't give a shit about that pompous bastard remember?!" The slayer sighed in annoyance and shook her head at the short-sightedness of her half demon comrade. '_This isn't working…maybe I need to try a different approach. Besides if I hit her, she'll most likely toss that guy into the next village._' "Okay then…what did he say that was so offensive?"

Inuyasha froze at that question, her entire body giving a noticeable twitch as she was forced to remember the words that had set her off. However she attempted to regain her composure by simply turning her head away from Sango as to not look at her. "It was just some bullshit about how he thought I looked pretty and how he never met a woman like me before…the same shit that any bastard spews when they want a girl to like them." She muttered in a quiet yet nonchalant voice.

Sango raised her eyebrow questioningly having detected something else in the way Inuyasha had turned to avoid eye contact and how those words didn't seem to have as much affect on the hanyou as she suspected the real reason would have caused. "Was that all?"

"…" Inuyasha then replied in such a soft murmur that Sango wasn't even sure if Inuyasha had said anything. Noticing that she hadn't heard, Inuyasha sighed before turning to look at her and suddenly yelled, startling the man he was still dangling a foot off the ground, the demon exterminator and anyone that was within hearing distance. "HE FUCKING ASKED ME TO DAMN _**MARRY HIM**_, THE FUCKING BASTARD!!"

All Sango could think to do was blink. For some reason she was just bursting to laugh, however the seriousness of the situation prevented her from doing so. Although oddly enough she couldn't help but find herself thinking the most unusual thing. '_She's female less than a week and already she has a suitor? Most women would kill for her luck…_'

During this awkward silence, Inuyasha decided to take the opportunity to finish this man off before anyone attempted to stop her. "So now I'm going to KILL HIM! IRON REAVER-"

"Inuyasha, SIT!" With a crash louder than her yelling, Inuyasha was sent hurtling into the ground by the magical word.

Kagome, who had remained quiet during the entire conversation (she still refused to want to talk to her), had finally spoken to stop the irate half demon. She then walked up to the man who had been dragged down with Inuyasha, helping him up to his feet without even so much as a glance at Inuyasha. "Are you alright?" She asked kindly and smiled just as warmly, easing the man enough to reply without as bad of a stutter as he had prior to be rescued. "Y-yes. Thank you."

Moaning, Inuyasha had at least managed to push her head out of the hole she was in, and glared up at the man who was now on his feet once again. "Bastard…when I fucking get outta here and get my claws on ya, you'll fucking regret ever being born!"

Seeing the hanyou recovering so quickly, the man jumped away from Kagome and yelped like a scolded dog before turning tail and running off while he had the chance. Along the way he stumbled, and began crawling and scrambling away without even bothering to return to his upright position – just as long as he got away from Inuyasha it didn't matter to him just _how_ he got away. Fortunately the sit command was still having some effect on the dog demon, restraining her long enough to allow the male to escape.

When she finally got over the pain enough to push herself out of the hole, Inuyasha instantly glared at Kagome, who wasn't even looking at her at the moment. "Kagome! Why the fuck did you sit me then?! It didn't even have anything to do with you and you just butt in without bothering to say anything except that damn-"

Suddenly Kagome sent a piercing glare at the hanyou, silencing her instantaneously. When she was sure Inuyasha wasn't about to say anything else, she then turned away and began to walk in the direction to Kaede's hut. "I'll be going to Kaede's." She only stopped to look back at Sango, once again avoiding looking in Inuyasha's direction. "Sango are you coming or you going to look for Miroku first?"

"I think I should get Miroku first. He probably doesn't know that we've stopped Inuyasha's tirade yet." Sango replied in as much of a normal tone as she could, which was easy considering Kagome was speaking as friendly as usual to her. Kagome merely nodded then suddenly smiled. "I'll meet you at Kaede's then, 'kay?" With that she then turned around and began walking down the street, towards Kaede's hut.

Inuyasha stared at Kagome's reaction in confusion before turning to Sango. "Is she that mad about what I did then?" She asked in a worried tone. Her anger at what had just happened was now forgotten, as she was concerned with what just happened between Kagome and her.

Her attention suddenly drawn from Kagome's departure, Sango looked at Inuyasha with an incredulous expression. "How could you think that? Sure what you did was absurd but you can't think that something like that would get her that mad?" Though the rest of the group knew why Kagome had truly been angry with Inuyasha, Sango felt that it would better if Inuyasha figured it out on her own, although at this rate it would take her centuries as she didn't even have as much of a clue already. So like any good friend, she decided to give suggestions, _strong _suggestions. "You did something to upset her before, and she's still hasn't forgiven you for it."

"Wha? What did I do?" Inuyasha scratched her head, trying to think of something – anything – that she could have done wrong to upset Kagome. "Was it all that pushing to get here without letting her stop…cause she never said a thing so I-"

"Not that. Keep thinking."

"Erm…was it cause I took her bag?"

If she weren't holding Kilala, Sango would have slapped her forehead, then Inuyasha's just to get what's left of her brain cells working. "I don't think that she would be angry because you spared her the burden of lugging that heavy thing around!"

Now Inuyasha was looking around, hoping against all odds that she may see something that would jog a memory as to what she had done wrong. Unfortunately she was coming up extremely short of possibilities. "Uh…well…um…I got nothing else." '_I haven't even talked to her for the past three days…plus she's been avoiding me ever since that day I- …is she angry at me because of that?_' Dawning seemed to befall Inuyasha, however just at that moment Shippo suddenly leapt up onto Sango's shoulder, soon followed by Miroku who he had just leapt off to get to Sango. "Seems like we missed it all?" Miroku asked rhetorically, noticing that no one was around besides Sango and Inuyasha, and that nothing seemed broken.

"I'm going to see Kaede now." Inuyasha suddenly stated without even hearing what Miroku had said. She hadn't even bothered to wait for anyone else to reply and just walked away.

After her form was no longer visible, everyone ceased staring in bafflement at Inuyasha's sudden departure and then turned back to look at each other. "Where's Kagome? I thought she was with you." Shippo had been the first to break the silence, now looking this way and that to find girl from another era.

"She decided to go to Kaede's hut after sitting Inuyasha." Sango explained, followed by Miroku and Shippo suddenly noticing the Inuyasha shape imprint in the ground that they had missed before. "I see…was what Inuyasha did that bad?" Miroku judged by the depth of the hole before looking back at Sango.

"She hadn't caused any bodily harm yet, when we had stopped her. Although I think the man she was threatening may be permanently scarred."

"So it was that bad?"

"Inuyasha's threats scared the man so much that he may have a stutter forever in his speech."

Miroku blinked, genuinely shocked by what he was hearing Inuyasha had done. Sure, he knew that Inuyasha could be very intimidating with her threats if one didn't already know that she was a big softie who wouldn't really harm a person beyond a few punches to the head. Well there were the exceptions of a few beings that Inuyasha would kill, but they were a different case. "What did the man do that to cause Inuyasha to intimidate him like that?"

"Well…" Sango paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words to put it. "The man asked her if…" There was another pause, and this time Sango took a calming breath in then out. "If she would…" Just then Sango turned so that Miroku couldn't see her face.

"Sango?" Miroku felt worry spike within him by Sango's strange behaviour. Was retelling the events that horrendous that she couldn't even mention them? Suddenly Miroku put his hands on Sango's shoulders, turning her to face him. "If the events are too much for you to recount then you don't need to- …Sango?!" He froze, speechless at the strange grin Sango had. It seemed like it was restraining something more joyful than she wanted to express.

"The man asked if Inuyasha would…MARRY HIM!" The moment those final words were blurted out, Sango burst into a fit of laughter that she had been trying to hold in from the moment she first heard Inuyasha tell her of it. Miroku simply stared at the slayer, registering each word slowly in his mind before a grin of his own was formed. "You mean to say that…someone proposed to Inuyasha?!"

"Yes!"

Now Miroku joined Sango in her laughter, both of them with tears of mirth in their eyes at the idea of any man asking Inuyasha to be their bride. No matter how much of a female Inuyasha appeared, that idea was so ridiculous that neither human could even think of it without wanting to collapse to the ground in laughter. "Did…did you hahaha ever find out hahaha whether Inuyasha ahahaha said yes?!" Miroku asked through his laughter, resulting in the both of them to laugh even harder at the idea of Inuyasha actually saying yes to the proposal. "Hahaha no I didn't hahaha think to hahaha!"

Meanwhile, Shippo stood on the ground besides them, having been smart enough to leap off Sango's shoulder long before she began laughing. He stared up at them with his head cocked to the side in confusion. "I don't get it…what's so funny about someone asking Inuyasha to marry them?" Of course neither adult replied, as they couldn't hear over their roars of laughter. '_Adults have a weird sense of humour. I hope I don't ever get like that when I grow up._' He then shook his head and sighed.

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **That chapter was longer than usual. Well a bonus for me being gone so long, you get a longer chapter! It wasn't by much, I think between 1,500 - 2,000 words over normal. I'm bound to get longer or shorter chapters depending on what's in them. At first I had wanted to put something else in this chapter, but while I was writing I started getting carried away (like with the argument between Inuyasha and Kagome, I originally didn't plan that but then I just got carried away and it just fitted so I left it in). So I ran out of room, and now you need to wait til the next chapter.


	4. Temper Tantrum

**AN: **Let me start by saying sorry for the once again late update. I know I actually started typing this chapter up early in the week, and I spent a lot of time on it on the weekend, but then I just came to a part of the chapter that I really didn't like so I kept changing it and changing it and changing it until I finally decided to stop with what I had because it was actually delaying what I did have planned. Plus, I had to get this chapter out eventually, and by the time I waited to have this chapter completely perfect, it would probably have been a long time. I guess it's just one of these chapters where no matter what I wrote, I wouldn't be happy with it.

Time to thank reviewers! I'd like to thank YASHA3393 and First and the Last Spartan for their reviews. Okay now time to get the disclaimer out the way then get on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I owe Inuyasha! See I have the registration papers and everything! (holds out papers) He's Akita cross Maltese and he'll be three years old this year! Oh yeah...but the anime and manga titled Inuyasha don't belong to me.

* * *

はじめ。

* * *

**Chapter Four: Temper Tantrum**

Everyone sat gathered around the fire that flickered inside of Kaede's hut, with the exception of a certain hanyou who had been slammed by Sango's Hiraikotsu for being stupid enough to sit cross legged while she had a short kimono on. Sango had insisted that Inuyasha should sit on her knees instead, however she had been stubborn as usual, and refused to do as the slayer said, thus she stood up, leaning against the wall with her arms folded.

"I see. Are ye sure that there was nothing else that ye missed?" Kaede had remained quiet during the explanation of Naraku's attack, so this was the first time she spoke up, after the group was finished that is – well more like when Miroku, Sango and Shippo were done explaining. Kagome hadn't wanted to say much on the topic and stayed unnaturally silent during the discussion, whereas Inuyasha only spoke to clarify any detail that the others had forgotten or mistaken.

Sighing in annoyance, Inuyasha then let her arms dropped to her side before stepping forward. "That was it! So now can ya tell me how to get out of this stupid form and return back to normal, ya old hag?!" Kaede's lips pursed and her one eye narrowed at the half demon. "Ye may look different Inuyasha, yet ye still have as atrocious manners as ever."

Inuyasha snorted then turned away with her eyes closing. "Keh! I didn't come here just to talk about what you thought about my manners." Her eyes snapped open now and she turned back to the elderly woman. "Now do ya know how to break this damned spell?!"

"Ney. Sadly I have never heard of such a spell." The old miko sighed. She thought for a moment, now thinking of how Naraku could have learnt of such an ancient spell. It was clear that if it used an old form of writing that the spell would of have to of been forgotten for many centuries. "So you don't know how to fix it?!" Inuyasha asked the old woman in thought with an incredulous tone.

Being aroused from her thoughts, Kaede only now noticed that Inuyasha, for the first time since entering her hut, was not as angry or impatient as she was before. She solemnly shook her head. "I do not know of a way to return ye back to your male self."

An awkward silence filled the room, only the sound of a hallow wind blowing in interrupted the deafening silence. Inuyasha stood there blinking, unsure of what to say, with every pair of eyes set upon her, waiting to see just when was the best time to get up and run out of the way of the demon's expected rampage. Her mouth hung open slightly due to the slackness of her jaw that came from the shock of what she heard. '_Am I hearing this right? No…it fucking can't be. I'm just hearing things. I'm fucking hearing things._' Just to prove that she was correct and that she only imagined hearing Kaede say she knew of no way to return her back to normal, Inuyasha dared to ask a question she half dreaded the answer to. "I ain't stuck like this, right? There's some way to get me back to normal, right? I am gonna turn back into a male?!"

The old woman began to poke the kindle in the fire, just to keep her hands busy and give her reason to avoid direct eye contact with the hanyou. "Calm yeself Inuyasha. There is no need to become hysteric at the prospect of…"

"Dammit old hag! Just tell me! Am I fucking gonna be a fucking female all my life?!"

Sighing, Kaede looked up to see the golden orbs that at the moment held all the suffering and torment that the owner's stubborn face refused to reveal. "I cannot be sure, however it does seem that there may be no way back to your normal form." Inuyasha took a step back from the shock of the answer. It took ages for those words to finally sink into the dog demon's thick skull. Though she had been expecting it, she had hoped against all odds to not hear it.

Everyone else in the room watched patiently, counting off the seconds in their head for when they expected to Inuyasha to blow up. '_Three…Two…One…_' All minds counted as if synchronised. Just then Inuyasha's pupils contracted, indicating that she was finally over her shock and that the rampage was about to begin. Immediately a growl could be heard from the hanyou, and she glared at everything that dared to move, even breathe, in that room. "I'M FUCKING GONNA BE FUCKING STUCK LIKE THIS FOR THE FUCKING REST OF MY FUCKING DAMNED LIFE!! I DAMN WILL FUCKING KILL THAT BLOODY BASTARD AND FUCKING RIP OUT EVERY FUCKING DAMN DEMON FUCKING BODY PART THAT FUCKING MADE THAT SCREWED UP SICK BASTARD'S DAMNED BODY FOR THIS!! FUCK THAT BASTARD!! FUCK HIM!!" Suddenly she grabbed anything she could get her claws on and started tossing them around the room.

At this point, everyone, besides Kaede, got up and began running around the hut to avoid getting hit by whatever Inuyasha was tossing. In her blind rage, she didn't seem to even know where she was throwing anything. "Inuyasha! Watch where you're throwing things! That nearly hit us!" Kagome had grabbed Shippo – who was the one that yelled at Inuyasha for nearly hitting them – and then smartly ran to the door that lead to the back of the hut and stood there, leaning against the wall in order to hide her form as much as she could from the flying objects. Kilala had rushed under a broken bowl that Inuyasha had already tossed, hissing at any other object that flew near her location. Miroku had grabbed Sango upon getting up and they rushed over to the door, standing in the door way as they noticed that Inuyasha was only targeting the walls in order for the objects she threw to smash against them. However Miroku still stood in front of Sango with his staff out in front defensively in case any object went astray and tried to hit them.

"FUCK HIM!! FUCK HIM!! DAMN IT!!" Inuyasha continued to yell random expletives to express her anger, although she generally stuck with the plain "fuck him" line. After finally running out of objects to toss, she stopped, panting heavily from all the yelling she had done, glaring at the damage she had caused. Then, with one final shout, she yelled her loudest curse to date. "_**FUCK YOU NARAKU!! FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!! FUCK YOU BASTARD!!**_"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the peaceful and quiet village, Inuyasha's curses could be heard loud and clear throughout the small village, causing villagers to pause in what they're doing and look up in the direction of where all the yelling came from. The yelling was in fact so loud that even birds hidden in the trees of the forest fled in fear, scrambling in the skies in a disorganised fashion.

Even some of the children of the village that had been chasing each other around playful froze in their game to listen to the curses. "Hey…what does that word mean?" A small boy asked, looking at the other children who merely blinked at him in equal confusion. "Which word?" A young girl asked the boy, who was probably only no less than two years older than her.

"You know, _fuck_. That lady seems to be yelling it a lot."

"Maybe she just likes it." Another boy shrugged at the numerous possibilities of what the word could mean.

The youngest of the group, a girl with short high pigtails, then clapped her hands together as she thought she figured what the word meant. "I know! Maybe it's a compliment, if she's saying it that much."

"Fuck you." The first boy said, testing out how it sounded. "Actually, it doesn't sound that bad."

"Let me try!" Another girl stated, now looking at the second boy that spoke. "Fuck you!" She then giggled. "I think it sounds funny."

The first girl to talk then smiled. "I know, we should go around and tell the whole village that then. I'm sure they'll like it." Every other child nodded, some saying some statements of agreements. Then the group of children began skipping around the village, yelling "Fuck you!" to anyone that they passed. Boy, wouldn't the village be surprised. Not to mention, imagine how happy their parents would be when they get home and tell them of the new word they learnt.

* * *

"She's gone insane." Miroku muttered to Sango while keeping a cautious eye on Inuyasha just to make sure that she didn't find anything else to throw and toss it at them. "We need to stop her before she decides to start ripping parts of the hut off and toss those about in the village."

Sango nodded as she chanced stepping out from behind Miroku now that she was sure it was safe temporarily (well as long as Inuyasha didn't have anything to throw). "You're right. But at this rate Inuyasha is even more unreasonable than usual." And they both knew how hard it was to talk to Inuyasha when she wasn't angry, but now she was behaving beyond being reasoned with. '_If only Inuyasha hadn't upset Kagome by what she said about Kikyo those days ago. I'm sure if Kagome did talk to her, Inuyasha would stop – male or not – Inuyasha would still listen to Kagome._' Sango was so sure of this, but the problem was to actually get Kagome to forgive Inuyasha long enough to be able to talk to her and calm the half demon down.

"Inuyasha's really mad. I hope that she doesn't decide to throw me like that now that she's ran out of objects to smash." Shippo watched the scene from the safety of behind Kagome's head. However, the priestess from the future seemed distracted. '_Inuyasha…all this damage he's causing, did it hurt that much for him to know that he couldn't return back to normal? I didn't think that he would…he never acted this way before when this first happen._' At that thought, Kagome suddenly felt realisation hit her when she remembered her behaviour for the pass four days. '_No, that's wrong. Even if it wasn't breaking objects like this, he has been acting different. The way he rushed to get here, yelling more than usual, all those hurtful things he said…he even regularly admitted he hated being a female. How didn't I notice this before? Was I being that ignorant because he had upset me in that argument…_'

"Kagome, Kagome. Kagome! Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Finally she noticed that Shippo had been trying to call her attention for however long she had fazed out to think. A small blush crept up on her cheeks as she realised this. "Sorry Shippo. I was just thinking…what was it that you said?"

Shippo stared at the older woman in concern before blinking it off and deciding that he should let it go seeing as Kagome was always blanking out to think about things that he usually did not want to know about. "It wasn't that important, but I was wondering if something was wrong since you weren't saying anything."

An anime sweat drop formed as Kagome nervously smiled to try and conceal her embarrassment. "I'm fine Shippo." Suddenly her eyes widened as she remembered who her thoughts were about and then glanced back to see that Inuyasha had finally stopped throwing things about. "He stopped. Shippo, I need you to stay here." Without even letting the fox child reply, she gently placed him down and then ran out of her hiding spot and rushed over to the hanyou.

"Wait, Kagome!" Shippo called out yet it seemed like Kagome wasn't listening, again. He sighed then sat down. "Why did she call Inuyasha a he? I thought we agreed to call her a she now." The kitsune muttered, noticing the slip in Kagome's speech when she was referring to Inuyasha before leaving.

By now, it seemed that Inuyasha figured that she had ran out of whole objects to chuck, yet she still felt like destroying something so settled with smashing the debris of the already smashed and broken objects she just threw. Picking up the nearest broken piece she could find, she raised her arm and prepared to throw it yet someone had caught her wrist and stopped her from achieving her goal. "Hey! What the hell are ya…Kagome?!" Inuyasha turned to yell at the person that had stopped her, yet she froze when she saw that the person was indeed Kagome.

"Inuyasha, stop what you're doing. You're destroying all of Kaede's items and at the rate you're throwing things you might hit someone." Kagome stated in a strong yet calm tone. She gently pulled Inuyasha's arm down, causing the hanyou to drop the item she was holding, shattering it on the ground in many pieces from the impact of the drop. "I know that you're upset about not being able to change back…"

"Upset?! Who said that I was fucking upset?!" Inuyasha snapped, now glaring at Kagome – though unintentional as she was merely angry yet looking at Kagome at the say time – her voice now steadily rising to soon yell if she wasn't stopped. "I just want to fucking kill that fucking sick and twisted bastard that did this to me!"

Kagome felt her free hand balling up into a fist as she now frowned at the half demon for what she saw as her selfishness. "And you think that what Naraku did was only affecting you! What about the rest of us?! Didn't you think that it wouldn't have hurt anyone else to see you like this?! That the way you're treating everyone else and taking your anger out on all of us wasn't going to affect anyone?! I know that you don't like being a female and that at the moment you probably have never hated Naraku anymore than you do now, but didn't you even bother to think that maybe you're not the only one that's hurt by all this?!" By now her eyes were stinging, tears threatening to fall yet she never allowed it. She held them back, and held back the many more things she had also wished to say at that exact moment. Right now she felt wasn't the time.

Inuyasha stared at Kagome, stunned at what she had said yet none of that was apparent on her expression. Instead she looked deep in thought, almost like she was trying to see inside of Kagome's mind. '_Did all this really hurt Kagome that much? But why should it affect her at all? It's not like we're…I'm not even sure what I should be thinking at the moment about this._' For the first time, she had forgotten about being furious about what had happened to her – actually Inuyasha had almost forgotten that she was female at this point – and with her free hand she placed it on Kagome's cheek. "Kagome…I didn't know that…I didn't really mean to, I mean that I just never thought about it…"

"It's okay." After saying that, Kagome felt a huge weight being lifted from her shoulders, although that didn't completely make her feel better, but it was a very good start. A small smile graced her features as she leaned into Inuyasha's touch, content with the sensation she was getting from feeling the demon's hand gently stroke her cheek. It felt nice to just be here with the woman…at that Kagome froze, then gasped at what she had just been thinking and instantly ripped herself away from Inuyasha's touch.

Tilting her head in confusion, Inuyasha blinked at the priestess in confusion while she panted like she had just ran a kilometre. "Kagome? Is something wro-" Then it hit her and the hanyou mentally slapped herself for not realising before she had done what she did. She was still a _female_ and here she was, trying to move onto another female. Lowering her head so that her bangs would cover her expression, Inuyasha noticed the state of the hut due to her actions. "I'm gonna go for a run…a long run." With that she made her way towards the door, where Miroku and Sango had been standing yet silently stepped out of the way in order for Inuyasha to pass.

Once the hanyou was gone, there was a long silence in the room – where Kilala had decided to come out of her hiding spot and curled up in front the fire, enjoying its warmth – that was soon broken by Kaede, who had not moved from her position near the fire since Inuyasha had been destroying the items in her hut. "I had hoped that Inuyasha wouldn't have caused that much of a mess for me to clean up. Some of these items won't be easy to replace." She sighed warily before standing up, knowing that if she didn't clean up the mess now it would be harder to start cleaning later on. "I suggest that ye all watch where ye step." With that warning she then walked into the other room to get a broom.

"Well Kagome, lucky you stopped her when you did. Who knows what Inuyasha would have resorted to breaking if she ran out of items to throw." Miroku said, though in a good-natured tone in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere of the room. Unfortunately it wasn't working.

"Do you think that Inuyasha will forgive me?" Kagome suddenly asked, though to no one in particular. Slowly she turned to look at her friends who watched her with concerned expressions. Almost immediately, Sango had walked up to her friend and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Forgive you for what? Kagome, you haven't done anything wrong to apologise for."

However the younger girl shrugged her shoulders, causing Sango's hand to fall off her shoulder. "Yes I have. I haven't been there for Inuyasha when she needed me most. I was too busy keeping a grudge just because of a stupid argument and didn't bother to see that she was hurt by this change." Although what Kagome had done – or didn't do – wasn't as bad as she thought it was. Sometimes when one felt guilty about something it is easier to blame themself to an extend where they really hadn't done as bad as they thought; it usually makes one feel better when they realise that they haven't done as much as they've blamed themself for. And at this moment, Kagome was doing the same thing to herself.

"Don't think that Kagome. You did have a right to be angry at that time, and it's not like you've done anything wrong to Inuyasha. In fact, she didn't even know you were angry with her for anything. She must of only thought you were being quiet those three days because you were tired from the lack of rest we got." Which was true, although Sango guessed the last part. Albeit that said wasn't enough to convince Kagome – despite that half of what was said being a guess, Sango had actually heard Inuyasha admit it the rest herself.

Before Kagome could blame herself anymore, Shippo suddenly jumped on her shoulder and interrupted whatever the girl had intended to say. "Yeah Kagome, besides it's not like you were the only one. Actually, you were probably the only one that didn't annoy Inuyasha about the transformation." He then placed a small finger under his chin in thought as he was saying this.

Both Sango and Miroku looked at Shippo with baffled looks, wondering what either of them had done to annoy Inuyasha about her misfortune. It wasn't like either of them teased the half demon about it. "What? Shippo, we wouldn't have…" Sango began then trailed off as she tried to remember anything she could have done that referred to what the kit was talking about. Miroku too thought of what they could have done wrong, yet decided it was easier to simply ask Shippo what he was referring to. "What makes you think that we would have done something to cause Inuyasha further discomfort in her condition?"

Shippo turned to Miroku and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Well, Miroku, you keep on asking Inuyasha to take off her kimono so that you could see what a naked female body looks like when neither Kagome or Sango are around to hear it." At that mention, Miroku's face suddenly paled as he saw Sango giving him a glare that could of shot daggers at him, if she had that ability that is. "Oh you have?"

"It's not exactly like that, Sango!" The monk was waving his hands in front of him in a defensive manner, as if the protect himself. Although if Sango had really wanted to hurt him, Miroku would of needed more than to just wave his hands about. "I was merely curious, and besides, Inuyasha has never actually refused. She just…didn't want to because she didn't want to see her own body until it was back to normal." Unfortunately that just convinced Sango to smack the lecherous monk before turning her back on him. "No wonder she's always in a bad mood by the time Kagome and me return after leaving you two alone."

Now Shippo's accusatory finger turned to point at Sango. "And you, Sango, you're always hitting Inuyasha when she's not behaving in a way a girl should, even though she's never been a girl before and wouldn't know." Blinking for a moment, Sango then blushed as she remembered all those couple of hundred of arguments they had when they stop because Inuyasha had done something like try to sit cross legged or mention something about a woman's body that should not be said aloud, especially with a kid and a pervert around to hear and then she would hit her with her Hiraikotsu for it. "Well…after a while she should of gotten the idea and shouldn't have continued doing it…" Though she knew it was no use trying to say that; Inuyasha was still a male at mind and heart and it was bound to take a big hit to her male ego by being force to act like a female when looking like a female was already diminishing her pride with every day she remained a girl.

With that said, Shippo then crossed his arms and nodded, more for effect than because he agreed with anything that either adult said. "Kagome's probably the only one that didn't do anything that would hurt Inuyasha's pride. And Inuyasha has a big ego…she can never stop thinking that she's so strong or brave because she's too stupid to tell anyone what she's feeling or thinking. And she thinks she's tough cause she acts like a big bully by always hitting me on the head, and kicking me, and throwing me far away, and pulling me by the tail, and taking my food from me then eating it right in front of me, and calling me a baby all the time, and threatening to use me to sharpen her claws, and acting like a big jerk all round…" At that point Shippo had completely forgotten that he was trying to make Kagome feel better by pointing out that Miroku and Sango had been unintentionally irritating Inuyasha about her transformation into a girl much more than what she had been, and was now ranting about all the mean things Inuyasha did to him.

Exchanging nervous glances, the slayer and monk figured that they were in the clear, as Shippo appeared to have forgotten his point. So, just to be sure that Shippo wouldn't remember what he was about to say before he had gotten sidetracked by ranting about Inuyasha's faults, Miroku decided to turn the conversation back to where it was before. "Kagome, you shouldn't be blaming yourself for the way Inuyasha feels. Ever since Naraku's attack, she hadn't told anyone what she was thinking or how she felt about it. No one could have possibly known that she despised being female as much as her actions showed here."

"That's right. You haven't done anything wrong, so you don't need to feel like it's your fault. Besides, all you can do now is try to be supportive when Inuyasha comes back." Sango chanced patting Kagome's back, hoping that she wouldn't pull away again. This time though, Kagome allowed her friend's attempts to comfort her to have some affect. "I guess you're both right." She then turned towards the window and glanced outside into the cloudy sky. "I'm gonna help Kaede clean up then. It'll be a while since Inuyasha will come back so I think we may be here for a while." '_Maybe I could visit my family while I'm here too. I know that I saw them about a fortnight ago but after we get going again I won't know when I'll be back to see them._' Kagome contrived as she was about to head towards the room that Kaede had went into to tell her that she was going to help.

"I'll help too. With this mess, Kaede needs all the help she can get." Sango added with a nod.

"Can I help too?" Shippo asked Kagome from her shoulder, which resulted in Kagome taking him off her shoulder and then holding the fox child affectionately in her arms. "Of course you can. And thanks Sango, I'm sure it'll be faster with the four of us."

While the two females were about to go offer their service to help clean, Miroku started edging back towards the door. This was definitely an opportunity to go around the village to flirt with women without needing to worry about Sango finding him for quite a while. "Well…I'll see you beautiful ladies after you've finished-" Unfortunately Sango seemed to have read his mind and swiftly caught his ear and pulled him back into the hut. "Where do you think you're going?"

Wincing slightly both at the pain from Sango pulling his ear and from the harshness of her tone, Miroku looked at the slayer through the sides of his eyes yet managed to keep his voice calm and collective, although the underlying guilt was quite noticeable. "I was merely leaving as to not get in your way while you cleaned."

"Oh you won't be getting in the way, because _you_'ll be helping us." Sango insisted more than stated, and without letting the monk reply she dragged him over to the room that Kaede was in, continually keeping a vice grip on Miroku's ear to foil all his chances at escape.

* * *

Night had arrived so soon and with all the cleaning and helping Kaede to get some replacements for the items that she would use for medicine, in case any emergency occurred where one of the villagers fell ill or was severely injured, no one had wanted to do anything else after they completed fixing the hut up after Inuyasha's tantrum. The day had been very uneventful, although considering that everyone had worked exhaustedly to return to the village then assisting with the cleaning no one had minded having the extra time to rest.

They spent most of the night merely talking about any topic that came into their mind. Currently, Miroku, Sango and Kaede were discussing any leads that there could possibly be in order to find Naraku's whereabouts; during the conversation Sango had been repeatedly stroking Kilala's fur, who was purring contently at the comforting touch. Kagome had been apart of the conversation moments ago though withdrew when Shippo had rushed up to her with a book in his hand (which he found in her bag) that he wanted her to read to him. Still she continued to read the book that was found in her bag.

"Kagome?" Pausing in the middle of the sentence she read, Kagome looked up at the fox child who sat contently in her lap, a curious expression on his young face. "Yes Shippo?"

"Why doesn't this Beast guy let Belle go see her father?" Kagome had been reading the story Beauty and the Beast, and Shippo had been very interested in the story thus far, especially by seeing the vibrant pictures in the book and looking at the strange photogenic characters that he recalled Kagome calling them "kanji". He wasn't completely sure what kanji was, although every once and a while he could recognise something as katakana or hiragana within the text.

"Well, because he's afraid that if he lets her go that he'll lose her forever."

"But she promised that she wouldn't leave. Why won't he believe her?"

"Because he probably doesn't think that she could be happy by staying with someone like him."

"Why?"

"She's beautiful and kind hearted and he doesn't even appear or act human anymore. He obviously thinks that because of what he is that she wouldn't accept him unless he forces her to stay."

That curious expression of Shippo's from before was now replaced by a flat one when his questioning had ended. "That's stupid. Can't he see that if he stopped acting like a jerk towards her that she'd like him more?" He then crossed his little arms though his gaze turned back to the book, fixated by the pictures once again.

"He's been isolated for years now. I doubt he knows how to behave around another human being anymore." Smiling now, Kagome then put the book down and wrapped one arm around the kit then used her free hand to affectionately ruffle his red locks. "Besides, I think that he's just insecure and lonely really." After that she began combing her fingers through Shippo's hair to straighten it out after having messed it up.

When Kagome's hand fell from his hair, Shippo then picked up the book that they were reading and took a closer look at the characters in the scene. The kanji running along the side of the book explain of how Belle had asked to go see her father however the Beast hadn't wanted her to leave his castle and grew angry at her request. In the picture Shippo could see Belle looked distraught while the Beast was walking away with a scowl on his face. He squinted in concentration before suddenly looking up at Kagome with a smile. "You know, Belle and the Beast kinda remind me of you and Inuyasha, when she was a male that is."

Being completely caught off guard by that remark, Kagome blinked in astonishment and just managed to catch her jaw as it was about to drop. With every moral fibre of her body, she managed a convincingly calm tone. "How's that Shippo?"

"Well, Inuyasha never lets you go see your family but when you do you always come back. She's afraid that you'll leave her even if she's too stubborn to admit it, but you won't leave unless she does something really stupid yet she still doesn't get it. She's insecure, lonely and gets jealous when other men are around you easily. You're always being nice and understanding to her, even when she doesn't deserve it. And she yells a lot and break things a lot when she gets angry."

An anime sweat drop fell from Kagome's forehead as she laughed nervously at what Shippo had just said. '_It's strange how that's true, but when he puts it like that he makes it sound like that Inuyasha and I are a couple or something._'

"Speaking about your family, Kagome didn't you say that you were going to go back to your time to visit them while you were here?" Sango interjected, temporarily causing everyone's attention to turn to her, and then to Kagome as they waited a response. However, all this caused Kagome to avert her gaze to the ground nervously as she pushed her two index fingers against each other. "About that…I just thought that I'd wait until Inuyasha returned."

Ever since Inuyasha had left to go on that run earlier, no one had seen or heard of any sign of her returning. Though they all suspected that she was still in the forest, at this point no one knew how much later she would stay out, or if Inuyasha would return that day at all. "Kagome, you know we could always tell Inuyasha that you're at home when she returns, if that's what you're concerned about." Miroku offered, however besides him Sango was frowning at the suggestion. "They're your family though. I don't know why you really _need_ to tell Inuyasha that you're going back to _your_ home to see _your_ family that you barely ever get to see anymore. Besides, if you did tell her it's not like she'll agree with the idea despite that we'll probably be here for a few days to restock supplies."

Kagome shook her head at what her friends were telling her before stopping to look at everyone with a straight expression. "No, it's not because Inuyasha would want to know that I'm going. It's just that we haven't heard from her all day, and I'm worried that something might of happened to her."

"Ye know that once we tell Inuyasha that ye've returned home, she'll most likely follow after ye through the well in no time." Kaede alluded, knowing well that Inuyasha would do that the moment she found out that Kagome left for her era and that that way, Kagome would be able to see for herself that Inuyasha was alright once she arrived in her time.

However that did little to ease her. In fact it only increased her concern. "But what if something did happen to her? No one else can get through the well and I wouldn't be able to know until I get back, when it's too late. No. I'll wait until I see that Inuyasha is back here safe with my own eyes before I go home."

There didn't seem to be anything that would convince Kagome otherwise, other than to see Inuyasha in the same physical condition she left in with her own eyes. Sighing in defeat, Sango closed her eyes for a second before opening them to look at her friend sympathetically. "Alright. I guess we can't really force you to go home if you're that worried."

"Thanks." With that being settled, Shippo tugged on Kagome's sleeve then held out the open book to her once she looked at him. "Kagome, I want to know what happens next. This story is pretty interesting." Smiling all of the sudden, Kagome took the book and held it out so that Shippo could see the pictures as she read it to him. "I'm sorry, I forgot about your story! Sure. Besides it's one of my favourites so I want to get to the end too." The two were once again emerged in the story.

Watching the pair for a split second, Kaede, Sango and Miroku soon turned back to the conversation the three of them were having before. Though just as they were about to continue, Kilala's head perked up, causing Sango to look down, startled slightly at the sudden movement of her feline companion. "Kilala? What is it?"

The kitten's big red eyes blinked as she stared up at the ceiling. She meowed quizzically, tilting her head to the side before glancing back at the demon exterminator besides her and then rubbed herself against the hand that hovered over her head. With another meow, this one of approval, Kilala then returned to the position she was curled up into before.

Allowing her hand to continue stroking the small cat, albeit half-heartedly, Sango then looked at Kaede and Miroku to see whether either of them was thinking of checking out what Kilala seemed to have sensed. "Is something wrong, child?" Kaede asked, more pondering of whether what Kilala had sensed was something that they should be worried about or something better to ignored.

"I think Kilala sensed something. But I'm not completely sure whether it's something to be concerned about." Glancing down at the feline demon, Sango soon turned back to look at the wisen priestess. "It doesn't appear that much of a threat if Kilala has already ignored its presence." She concluded and relaxed noticeably. However Sango didn't seem so reassured by this. In the back of her mind she felt as if it were better to go investigate.

It appeared Miroku thought along the same lines as Sango, as he then stood up. "I'll go check. There's a possibility that it may be a demon lurking around the village." '_Besides, for a moment I thought I sensed a demonic energy nearby but it seems almost faint now._' As he was about to make his way to the door, he paused as he could hear the movement of a heavy weapon behind him.

"I'll come with you." Sango was in her battle suit, adjusting her Hiraikotsu to her back. "If you think that it's a demon then you may need some help."

"Sango, I appreciate the offer, however I'm certain that if it is indeed a demon, it shouldn't be that dangerous if Kilala barely even reacted to its presence." Miroku had said yet in truth he was more worried that if there was a demon that was powerful enough to hide its energy, he didn't want to risk Sango's safety by having her come with him. "It's most likely to be a weak demon that fled from the forest due to Inuyasha either hunting something down to kill or her random destruction of the environment."

It took a moment for Sango to internally argue with herself whether she should insist on going or just trust that Miroku's presumption was correct before she came up with a decision. "I suppose you may be right. Just be careful out there, okay?"

Suddenly Miroku just appeared in front of Sango, now grasping her hands in his own. "I never knew that you cared so-" He was cut off by one of Sango's infamous slaps. "Would it kill you to keep your hands out where I can see them instead of groping my ass?" She glared at the monk dangerously as the offending appendage removed itself from her buttocks and came into plain view to caress its owner's smarting cheek. As Miroku opened his mouth to speak, Sango gave him a look that instantly silenced the monk. "Maybe you should go out and find whatever caught Kilala's attention before I-"

Before Sango could even finish her threat, Miroku was already standing by the door, ready to exit the hut. "I understand, so just excuse me." And he was gone before the last word even left his mouth. Sometimes Sango could scare the hell out of him, however, no matter what threat she used or how many times she beat him up, he still couldn't help how he felt about her – and about groping her butt.

"Can't ya fucking keep that hand to yourself for even one day, ya pervert?" Miroku turned this way and that way to see who had spoken, although he saw no one there. That voice, he barely recognised it yet he was sure he knew the speaker. Suddenly he looked up at the roof of the hut only to see Inuyasha standing there, half hidden in shadows. "Inuyasha? So you heard th- wait how long have you been up there?"

Aside from the golden eyes and silver locks, Miroku could barely see anything more of Inuyasha's form. The rest of the hanyou's body was a shadowy figure with the outline of Inuyasha's newly formed figure. "Long enough."

Squinting in the darkness, Miroku attempted to get his eyes adjusted to the lack of light to be able to see his friend clearly. Unfortunately even once his eyes were adjusted he still could barely see Inuyasha's body. "Well then you should know that Kagome has been worried about you ever since you've left. You should go into the hut now and see her so that she can – well if you came down here and go inside you could find out for yourself."

"Oi shut up!" Inuyasha snapped down to the monk on the ground, narrowing her eyes at him. "I can damn well hear ya good enough without you talking loud enough to wake the whole damn village!"

'_I'm not talking that loud…if anything only Sango, Kagome, Shippo and Kaede should be able to hear us if they stopped talking. It doesn't seem like Inuyasha has gotten over her anger from this morning._' Shaking his head, Miroku then spoke in a soften voice, though knew that Inuyasha was quite capable of hearing it from where she stood. "Maybe if you came down here then I wouldn't need to talk as loud as you think I'm talking."

"I can hear ya just fine like this." Inuyasha grunted in a voice that Miroku had to strain his hearing just to catch every word of it. "Anyway, I was just wondering if Kagome was alright?"

"She's fine, but if you would go in and see her then you would know that."

"What the hell are you doing out here anyway?"

"Kilala sensed something moving nearby and I thought I sensed a demon for a second…turned out to be you. Could you come down here? I can't even tell if you're looking this way or not."

Two glowing orbs of gold suddenly focused on the monk, and now Miroku was certain that Inuyasha was indeed looking at him. "Does it matter? I said I'm listening."

"What are you trying to hide? You're acting as if you don't want me to see you, nor do you appear to want to go inside and see Kagome despite that she's been waiting all this time to see you before she can go back to her own home."

There was a moment of silence, only the sound of crickets from the forest and the twitching of Inuyasha's ears could be heard. "Naraku's watching over the village and forest, she can't go back."

"What? How did you…"

"I'll be back by morning. Don't try to follow me or anything." With that the shadowy figure that was Inuyasha leapt off, leaving no signs that she was ever standing on that rooftop.

Miroku merely blinked in confusion, though before he could call out anything to stop Inuyasha he noticed that light bathed over him as Sango had slid the mat that covered the door, allowing the light from inside to radiate outside as well. "Miroku? Is everything alright? We could hear you talking to someone."

There was a small mental debate in the monk's head as to whether he should tell Sango what had happened or not say a word about it. "Inuyasha was here but then she ran off." Better to put the blame on Inuyasha than to make Sango think that he was crazy, at least that was Miroku's reason for saying what he said. "She was behaving very unusual too when we talked."

Stepping out from the doorframe of the hut, Sango glanced around in hopes to see the hanyou mentioned, however she knew that if Inuyasha had ran off then by then she would definitely be well out of sight. "Inuyasha was here? But why didn't she come in to say anything, and why did she leave again?"

Not knowing the answers himself, Miroku simply shrugged. "I'm not sure. Even when we talked she was hiding in the shadows to not show herself. I think she possibly doesn't want to be seen."

"For what reason? You think that after we saw her as a female there would be nothing more embarrassing for her to want to hide from us."

Again Miroku shrugged, and then sighed for all the questions that were being left unanswered because of this event. "I don't know. Although I think it may have something to do with Naraku. She did say that he was watching over the village and forest. It may be that there was something else to that spell and he was only waiting for it to emerge."

"Naraku…he's certainly causing more trouble in this past week than usual." The slayer frowned as she thought of what was said before suddenly thinking of something else. "If Naraku's watching us then Kagome can't go back home."

"That was what Inuyasha said before she left again."

"Should we go look for her?"

"No. She said that she would be back by morning and that she didn't want anyone following her. I think we should at least wait until morning."

Sighing, Sango reluctantly nodded. "I suppose we should tell Kagome then. It may be hard but if Inuyasha went off on her own while Naraku is somehow watching us then there's a possibility that she could be in trouble. If anything does happen then it would only be harder to tell Kagome that this happened later on than what it would be now."

"You're right." It seemed like the moment they returned to the village, instead of getting the rest they longed for they were only stricken with more worry. Gradually the pair walked back into the hut, preparing to tell Kagome what had happened and to figure a way to stop her from running after the half demon that requested that she'd be left alone for at least tonight.

* * *

Now some fair distance away from the village, although not too far for her not to be aware of a possible attack in the village, Inuyasha landed gracefully on the ground then leaned her back against a tree of the forest. Shafts of moonlight radiated down on the half demon through the gaps in the trees, causing her silver hair to gleam just as the stars did and an ethereal glow to the tanned flesh on her torso. Strips of the torn part of her kimono seldom covered her revealing bust.

"Damn that asshole's demons. I only just get here and already I fucking can't stay in the village cause of what that bastard's demons did to me." During her "walk", she had ran into many of Naraku's annoying yet weak demons. It seemed as if whatever plan the despicable hanyou had concocted did not just end with turning Inuyasha into a female. Though that was the last thing on Inuyasha's mind. All she could think of was wanting to cause more pain and suffering to the stupid demon that had ripped the top of her kimono off, now leaving her topless. '_Too bad I killed that puny demon quickly. If I realised sooner what that idiot did I would have made sure it'd suffer._'

As a result, Inuyasha now had to wait until the robe of the Fire Rat repaired itself so that it could cover her adequately enough for her to return to the village – and this time actually allow someone to see her. She didn't even want her friends to know that she was currently topless, despite that Kagome and Sango were female so should be able to see her naked without too much concern. Although Inuyasha still felt embarrassed, as she still had the mentality of a male and to her, even though they were going to look at a female body, it was still _her_ half naked body.

'_Bet I got a lot to explain when I get back. Feh…like I'll mention this. I'll just let them think whatever they want…well probably except Miroku. He most likely thinks I left for some perverted reason, that lecher._' Those thoughts were interrupted by an annoying small prick into the skin of her neck. On instinct, Inuyasha slapped the spot of the bite, then lowered her hand to wait for the offender to float down into her palm. "Myoga, what the hell are ya doing out here at this hour?!"

The now flattened flea, inflated his own body after landing in the palm of his master. "Master Inuyasha, I was just…" Myoga paused in his explanation as he suddenly realised two large, round, fleshy breasts were sticking out of a chest that once looked more board and flat. Bulging eyes gingerly rose to see the face of a woman that looked so akin to the annoyed face the old flea was accustomed to seeing. "Master, do you know that you look like a woman?"

Suddenly a fist squashed the poor flea that was in her palm. An anime tick throbbed on Inuyasha's temple from the sheer stupidity of the question her so-called retainer had asked. "Ya think I'd not know that?!" Raising her fist from her palm, Myoga was flattened once again before inflating himself to his pudgy form. "So what reason are ya here for now? Figured it would be safe enough to return from your hiding spot?"

Completely disregarding the insult due to the shock of what he was seeing, Myoga proceeded to finding answers to the many questions he had about Inuyasha's transformation. "How did this happen? When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me that you were going to change your gender?!" He bounced repeatedly on the palm that had caught him from falling to the ground previously as to look Inuyasha in the eye (well as much as flea could).

"Don't be stupid, Myoga! I didn't choose to be this way!" Inuyasha snapped, causing an end to the excessive jumping. It took all of her restraint (which wasn't much to begin with) to not squish the small nuisance. Although Inuyasha was sure that one more idiotic remark would be what would do Myoga in. "That damned Naraku did this to me."

One set of arms crossed, while with the other set, Myoga used one arm to support the other as it held his chin up in thought. "Why would Naraku want you female?"

"He's a fucking twisted, sick, sadistic bastard! That's all the reason he needs. Besides, even if I could find out, I probably wouldn't want to know what's going through that sick bastard's screwed up mind."

"How did he manage to transform you?"

"Some stupid spell of his." Inuyasha shrugged her shoulders lightly as she replied, knowing eventually she would need to recount the events again. Of course, Myoga had to ask what was being expected of him. "Spell?"

"He wrote some kana in my forehead then pressed on it and then this happened."

Now Myoga was jumping up and down once again, excitement growing of hearing how the spell was done. Although he knew that he shouldn't be enjoying anything that causes his master any dismay, he was unable to help the curiosity that may be able to be satisfied by finding out these few details. "What did he write?"

"How the fuck would I know?! It was on my forehead! Ain't like I got an eye that's sticking out of my head and facing straight at my forehead to see what's going on there!"

"So you don't know what Naraku wrote on your forehead?"

"I just said that, didn't I?" There was a slight growl in Inuyasha's tone with this reply, which Myoga had fortunately heard so knew to stop asking more questions about what kana was used for the spell. He stopped bouncing and sighed in disappointment. If only he had some way to find out what had been written. However, Myoga's line of thought was interrupted by the irked hanyou. "Is that all or do ya have anymore stupid questions to ask?"

"Actually…" Myoga looked up at Inuyasha with a sheepish expression. "I was wondering. Since you're a female now, should I still be calling you Master Inuyasha or Mistr-" Before that word was completed, Myoga had been crushed by a clawed hand that subsequently tossed his flattened body to the ground before using her heel to grind the flea into the ground. Once Inuyasha was done punishing the flea, she leapt up into a tree and sat on a branch with her back to the spot she knew where Myoga was pulling himself from the ground.

After his body inflated to its proper three dimensional form, Myoga looked up wearily. Well he certainly got his answer, although he wished that Inuyasha could have answered in a much more survivable way. '_Note to self. Never attempt to call the Master a Mistress when she's within earshot._' It was just fortunate that he was immortal, otherwise the old flea knew he would not have lasted this long being Inuyasha's retainer.

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **I remember the first time I wrote it, it had much more angst in it. Also it was going to end with a bit more progress having happened. Though I guess I was getting carried away again and decided to wait until next chapter. Don't worry, next chapter will pick up on some of the things that were missed out this chapter. I'm still not so happy about this chapter...only the tantrum at the beginning was really what stuck with my plan but everything else was different. Well...I was going to bring Myoga in, but at first it was a under different circumstances.

Anyway, so you might of noticed that Inuyasha and Myoga referred to the Japanese characters as kana, even though before Inuyasha said it was man'yogana that was written in his forehead. Well I decided to do a bit of research, and turns out that all the different forms of writing (hiragana, katakana, hentaigana and man'yogana) are kana, but kanji is something completely different. Well not completely different, but it comes under a different category. Anyway. For this story, I'm supposing all the characters use hentaigana as this form of writing was used up until the Meji Period (which is about 3 periods after the Sengoku Period). Although hiragana and katakana was also being used, but not as much as hentaigana I'm assuming. Hence, all the characters know hentaigana, katakana and hiragana, though Kagome also knows kanji, and characters older than Inuyasha know man'yogana as well, and Inuyasha would know all forms of Japan's own photogenic characters that have ever been used (figured since he's been to the future and most of the writing there is in kanji he would of had to pick up some of the future words and how they're written). Well at least that's how it's going in my story.


	5. Search For The Runaway Hanyou

**AN: **So long has it been since I last updated? About a month maybe. Well I'm back, and I'm really sorry about not being able to update. I had most of this done before, there was only about a page left to type up, but then I had tests and assignments, and I got more tests. So I just never got the time to finish it, or explain why I was gone so long. Anyway, since I finally found the time, I'm updating now! Also, warning in future, I got another month of tests to go. And these tests determine my placement in University and what rank I am in the entire state, so a lot of pressure. Won't be able to update for a long time.

Thanks to: YASHA3393, First and the Last Spartan, Purple-Converse-AllStar and Illidan the Half Demon for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha...even if I did I would probably getting a lot of hate mail for changing everyone's lovable hanyou into a girl, since now all the fangirls that have a crush on him can't fantasise about his sexy body. Well, at least all the people that love to torture him - aka, ME - get a laugh out of it!

* * *

はじめ。

* * *

**Chapter Five: Search for the Runaway Hanyou**

Purple Miasma clouds swam inside and outside of the atmosphere of the barrier that surrounded a castle with bones of the humans that once inhabited this castle now littered on the castle's grounds. The Miasma had poisoned the humans and ate away at their flesh, only leaving the bones and clothes of the humans. Inside, even more bones adorned the hallways, although these deceased bodies mainly had armour rather than just normal clothing.

Despite that it was a bright day nothing could be seen of the sky because of the thick poisonous clouds that blocked all sources of light from even entering the barrier. By first glance, there was a foreboding aura around the castle that could be immediately detected. However, a certain insect was flying into an opening in the barrier that formed the moment the insect was nearing, ignorant of the forbidding sensation.

It continued its flight, not at all disturbed by the dead bodies that covered the ground or by the Miasma filled in the air. All the windows of the castle were closed, except for one, which the wasp had flown into, instantly landing on the hand of the dark being that awaited inside for the insect.

"I see. So she's destroyed more of my Hell Wasps." The wasp flew away after it had given all the information it could to its master. "Though it doesn't matter. She is still unaware of the others that still alert me of her movements."

The room was dark, with little source of light from the darken grounds outside to allow normal sight to see in this dim room. However this darkness suited the owner of this room and castle just fine. There were also a number of pots placed along the wall, with a slight red glow radiating from inside. "Kanna."

The small white girl known as Kanna stepped into the room with her patented emotionless face. One hand was gently supporting the bottom of her mirror while the other wrapped around the top to hold the round mirror perfectly straight. "Kanna, show me how Inuyasha is faring with the spell I placed on her." Walking up silently to the now sitting evil figure, she replied with only a soft whisper that was almost hard to hear if one weren't expecting her to speak. "Yes, Master Naraku."

Naraku's eyes turned to look down at the mirror as its clear reflective surface showed him the hanyou in question. A slight smirk appeared on his face at seeing his own work. "The transformation appears to be working. However…" That smirk was soon replaced by a frown as he continued to watch the male turned female in Kanna's mirror. "It hasn't truly transformed _him _as I had hoped."

Footsteps could be heard approaching outside of the room, though Naraku didn't at all react, having expected this person to come to him half an hour ago. '_Hmm…you're late again. I wonder had caught your interest this time-_' His thoughts ended there as he glanced at the demoness that stood at his door. "Kagura, I told you to return over half an hour ago. What reason do you have for being late this time?"

Kagura pulled her fan out of her sleeves as she glared defiantly at the hanyou. "I was distracted by a mindless demon that wanted a fight." Although truthfully she simply did not want to arrive and decided to take her time returning, she figured that a small lie like that would exempt her from Naraku's wrath, for now anyway. "So why did you want me to return?"

However, Naraku didn't believe in the lie that he was given as an excuse, but he decided to ignore that, as there was a more important matter in which he called Kagura here for, other than to punish her for being disobedient. "I have a simple task for you to do."

With a flick of her wrist, Kagura's fan opened and she held it in front of her face, waiting impatiently for what her task was so that she could leave. However, as it appeared that Naraku was toying with her by attempting to get her to get frustrated with him so that he would have reason to punish her, Kagura decided to try and get him to complete his sentence without doing anything that would cause him to think that she was being disrespectful. "And what is this task that you wanted me to do?"

"Find Inuyasha's friends and keep them busy for a while."

"What of Inuyasha? Do you expect me to take care of her as-"

"Inuyasha isn't with them at the moment. You are to make sure that her companions do not find her before I have finished…my business with the dog demoness. Now go, Kagura."

Wanting to ask exactly what business Naraku had with Inuyasha, Kagura reluctantly pushed that thought away as she was ordered directly to leave now. In truth, if it weren't that she knew asking would cause Naraku to be suspicious of her motives she would have attempted to find out what the evil half demon was planning. All she knew was that he had turned Inuyasha female with a spell and was keeping the newly transformed woman under close surveillance. Snapping her fan close, her eyes narrowed in detest as she replied. "Yes…Master Naraku."

As Kagura was about to exit the room, she paused when she heard Naraku call for her attention once again. "Oh and Kagura…" By the time she turned around to face the dark demon, she noticed something appearing in his hand before his fingers wrapped tightly around it, as if to crush it. All of the sudden, Kagura felt her heart constrict in pain and instantly rose her hand to her chest and grasped on the material, despite that there was no heart beating inside her. She gasped in heavily, trying to force herself to breathe when her lungs were beginning to fail her. Her heart felt about ready to burst, and slowly she knelt down to her knees to avoid falling hard on the ground as her balance wavered from the pain. A glare was directed at the clasped hand of Naraku's, for she knew that her heart was inside, the life being squeezed out of it.

"The next time I summon you, you _will _come to me in that instant, under any circumstance." There was a harshness to his tone, indicating the frustration that Naraku had been concealing until now, at the fact that he knew Kagura had purposely taken her time in returning. "That is, if you wish to continue living." His lips curled into a cruel smirk, and with the dangerous glint in his cold red eyes Kagura knew that Naraku was serious with his threat.

Finally he relinquished his hold on the wind sorceress' heart, causing Kagura's suffering to subsequently end. However, she continued to breathe in deeply, her body still in panic of her heart almost being crushed. Once she had caught her breath and calmed herself, Kagura stood up, and with one last defiant glare at her so-called master, she then left the room without a word.

After the sound of the demoness' footsteps having faded away, Naraku now stood up, turning his focus back on Kanna, who had been silently watching the ordeal before her. Though what occurred did nothing to affect her, her expression remaining the same as earlier – devoid of all emotion. Instead, she continued to hold her mirror, which had previously reflected Inuyasha's current whereabouts.

The scene in the mirror gradually began to fade away, another replacing what was once shown. Watching the recent scene momentarily, a satisfied expression appearing on Naraku's features. "Lord Sesshomaru…how convenient that he would be found so near the required area." Everything appeared to be set for his plan to succeed without too many hindrances. Although there was still a chance that something could go unexpected, which was why Naraku was now leaving his room to assure that he had covered everything that could possibly occur – that and he did still have a specific woman to meet.

* * *

"Are you sure that this tree…"

"Master Inuyasha, Bokuseno is more than just a normal tree. His branches also made the scabbard to your Tetsusaiga and Sesshomaru's Tenseiga, and he is a long time friend of your father."

"…So this Bokuseno would know how to change me back?"

Inuyasha glided gently through the air with her hair and the sleeves of her kimono whipping behind her from the cold breeze that blew against the direction she was running in. She had been running across the countryside of Japan ever since the morning of that day, and now the sun was beginning to set. Myoga was sitting on one of the beads around the dog demon's neck, looking around every once and a while to make sure Inuyasha was going in the correct direction. "I'm sure he would know. Bokuseno's roots reach out all over Japan and allow him access to great knowledge that is beyond the limitations of the forest. Besides, if that spell Naraku used is indeed the one I'm thinking of, then Bokuseno would definitely know of a method to reverse the spell."

Her feet caught on a branch of one of the trees below her, then she pushed off the branch and resumed gliding in the air once again. "Myoga, you sure that this sort of spell was popular centuries ago? Cause I've never heard of it before now."

"Well, it was a before you were born. But many demons that wanted to end the ruling of a family in a clan without resorting to kill their entire family would use that spell to turn all their male heirs into females, so that no male heir could take over. Although that was usually done when the child was still in the mother's womb, but I'm almost certain that this spell Naraku used is another variation of that spell."

"If that's true then how come you don't know how to reverse it?"

An anime sweat drop appeared on Myoga's face; he was at a lost at how to respond to that considering he knew he should of known a way to reverse it. However the truth was that he simply forgot after all these centuries, yet he wasn't gain enough to tell Inuyasha that. "It…it was a highly guarded secret of how to reverse the spell! Otherwise anyone could just turn their kids back to their normal gender to solve the problem!"

"Feh…you forgot old man, didn't ya?" Inuyasha was not fooled by that excuse for even a second. She knew Myoga too well to know that when he couldn't remember, he usually would make up an excuse to cover for it, unless he wasn't able to think of an excuse then would just admit that he forgot but also try to make up some logical reason as to why he forgot. Although all those times it usually ended with Inuyasha squishing the flea for the lack of information.

At that remark, Myoga jumped up and down in indignation. "I did not forget! It was just a very long time ago!" Sure he forgot, but did Inuyasha need to have so little faith as to assume that he forgot? At least that was what Myoga thought. If anyone else had been there to hear that thought, they would be certain to answer with a yes. "But believe me when I tell you that Bokuseno will know how to get you back to normal."

The wind picked up a bit, however it was no affect to Inuyasha, yet Myoga was easily caught in it and blown off his master's shoulder. Fortunately the old flea grasped onto the hanyou's silvery long locks that flowed behind her before he was completely blown behind.

It had been quiet for a while, and Inuyasha simply thought of the events of the morning while Myoga was busy trying to hang onto her hair for his dear life.

--

_The break of dawn's light broke through partings in the leaves, allowing some light down on the hanyou and her flea retainer that stayed in the forest all night. "It's finally fully repaired itself. For a moment I thought I'd have to wait out here longer when it wasn't fixing itself." Inuyasha muttered to herself as she ran her fingers against the material that covered her torso, checking that the Fire Rat's robe repaired itself enough to leave her decent._

_Seeing her in a better mood than from last night, Myoga hopped onto Inuyasha's shoulder after she was done inspecting her kimono. "Master Inuyasha, I was just thinking about your…er…predicament…"_

_Snapping her head around to look down on the flea on her shoulder, Inuyasha's eyes narrowed, as she had to be reminded so early about what had happened to her body. "Yeah? And?"_

"_Are you sure that you can't remember anything about the kana Naraku wrote on your forehead?" Myoga asked warily, knowing that at any moment he could be flattened again if he said something to annoy Inuyasha, especially when it came to a touchy topic like this. "For the last time, I don't remember anything. All I know was that it was man'yogana."_

"_Man'yogana?"_

"_Yeah…the stroke of the kana was a bit different than hentaigana, also Naraku had a bit of a hard time trying to write it, like he's never written something like that before."_

_Myoga had his bottom pair of arms crossed while with his top pair one arm supported the other as it held his chin in thought. It was a short while before he responded again. "It's not exactly as I remember it, but I'm certain I've heard of the spell somewhere before."_

"_What? You saying that you know of a way to reverse it then?"_

"_Not exactly…but I know of someone who can."_

"_Who?"_

"_Bokuseno."_

_Inuyasha blinked in confusion at the name, wondering whether she was meant to actually know whom Myoga was talking about. "…Who's that?" As Myoga began jumping up and down on her shoulder, Inuyasha had a feeling that he had been expecting her to know whom he was talking about. "Bokuseno is a Magnolia tree that's lived for two thousand years."_

"_A tree? Myoga, you expect a tree to tell me how to get back to normal? Are you sure you didn't land on your head when I tossed you to the ground last night?"_

"_I did, but that's not the point! Go to Bokuseno and he'll be able to tell you how to return to normal."_

_Still doubtful if her retainer was completely sane, against her better judgment Inuyasha decided to trust the flea that this tree could tell her what she needed to know. Besides, she already lost her manhood – in more ways than one – so what else did she have to lose? "I guess I could go check this tree out…but you're coming."_

_At that, Myoga ceased his jumping and looked up in unspoken horror, before quickly replacing that expression with one filled with guilt. "Actually, I have some other business to take-" As he was about to leap off Inuyasha's shoulder, said demon caught him between her thumb and forefinger, then held the flea up to her eye level, giving him a dangerous look. "Myoga, how do you expect me to find the way to this tree you mentioned? Besides, if you're making all this up you need to be there to suffer exactly what I'm gonna do to you for finding out that you're sending me on pointless errands." Not allowing a chance for her retainer to reply, she applied slight pressure between her finger and thumb to squeeze the flea warningly. Once she relieved the pressure, Myoga took a deep inhale of breath after the feeling of his lungs being crushed momentarily wore off enough for him to speak. "On second thought, I should go with you to show you to Bokuseno. Wouldn't want the Master getting lost."_

"_Now I just need to go back to the village and tell everyone else. It'll be faster if I went alone, besides they all complained about not getting enough rest." Upon that being said, Inuyasha's ears twitched and her head snapped in the direction of where she could hear the rustling of leaves. "I thought I got rid of the last of those pests last night. Seems like Naraku sent more of them. Myoga, go to the village and tell everyone that I'm gonna go see this old tree thing, since you're gonna run off anyway. I'll find you later after I get rid of this insect." Buzzing could be heard and Inuyasha could just catch the sight of the insect that was listening in on the conversation. Swiftly she ran after the bug to kill it._

_Myoga had jumped off her shoulder before she ran into the thick of the forest. "Master, you know I would never abandon you! Although if you insist that I should go to alert your friends…" If Inuyasha hadn't ran off after the bug just after he said that, he knew she most likely would have retorted with something to his comment._

_Turning in direction of the village, he began to leap in its direction only to stop as he saw another Hell Wasp, right in front of him. Freezing from the fright of seeing that bug just appear from the bushes, Myoga soon turned in the opposite direction. "Master Inuyasha! Wait for me!" There was no chance that he was going to go to village at the risk of having to pass a Hell Wasp that might try to attack him, despite that he was ordered to do so. As far as he was concerned, Inuyasha's friends could wait for her message until after he was safe._

_If only Myoga had stayed in the clearing, he would have known that the Hell Wasp did not bother to chase him, and instead flew off to return to its master.

* * *

_

"_IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!"_

_Her claws tore through the wasp's body, as it was as easy to cut through as water. Only small and non-functional scraps of the bug's body remained after the attack, littering the ground. Staring at the remains for a while to make sure that it wouldn't regenerate, Inuyasha then turned away to go to the village as she suspected Myoga to still be there or returning from there. However, to her surprise, the flea had suddenly latched onto her nose. "Myoga? Ya done already?" She blinked in confusion._

"_Master Inuyasha, I think we should go now!" After running into that first Hell Wasp, Myoga had the misfortune of running into other weak demons and insects along the way, so now he just wanted to get out of that forest, neglecting the duty he was given earlier. Though because the flea had been frightened, it did not stop him from remembering where he was now and to take a little suck of Inuyasha's blood while he could._

_Slapping the nuisance off her nose, Inuyasha rapidly caught the flea rather than allow him to flutter down to her palm as usual. "Alright, we're leaving. What the hell scared you? Try to bite an angry cat or something?" She asked rhetorically before leaping off, entirely unaware that none of her friends would know what she was about to do and were still expecting her back at that very moment._

--

"Master, look ahead." Myoga had managed to climb his way back to be sitting on one of the beads of Inuyasha's necklace again, and currently was pointing up at a few of Naraku's Hell Wasps that gathered up ahead. Being stirred from her thoughts, the dog demon grumbled something inaudible before heading towards the gathered insects. "Those stupid insects are still following me…damn I just can't get away from them." Cracking her knuckles, she took a higher leap this time to reach the buzzing nuisances. "IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" The attack instantly slashed through the lot, however one had managed to escape the attack.

Considering that he was unable to find a safer place to hide, and that since they were so weak that staying with Inuyasha while she quickly dealt of them was currently safer than running away, Myoga remained clinging onto the half demon's necklace. "They were all over that forest too when we left."

"I know, but I can't seem to damn get rid of them." Glancing around, Inuyasha attempted to find the one that got away, or if there were any others near, unfortunately she could not seem to sense that fleeing wasp. Nor could she sense any other Hell Wasp or small demon nearby. "I think that's the last we should see for a while." Every time she ran into some of those insects, after she got rid of them it would be over an hour or so before she would come across more. So for the time being, none would be following, at least that was what Inuyasha assumed. '_I hope that Kagome, Sango and Miroku ain't dealing with this sort of problem back at the village._'

* * *

--

_She stood outside of the hut, leaning against the wall as she looked out into the forest in concern. After the first four hours of sleep, Kagome began to become restless and felt that she was unable to sleep for the rest of the night _(well morning considering she woke about 3 in the morning) _so had been standing out here, waiting. _'What's wrong? Inuyasha said that he'd be back in the morning…and now it's already nearing noon.'

"_Kagome." Sango had just returned while dragging back Miroku, who she had caught flirting with the village's woman while they awaited for Inuyasha to return. "You should probably wait inside the hut. It is a cold day and you could get sick if you keep waiting outside like this."_

_Preoccupied by being concerned with her friend's welfare, Sango's grip on Miroku slackened, giving the monk a chance to pull free from the vice grip she had on his ear. "Kagome, maybe you should get some sleep while you wait for Inuyasha to return. After all you didn't get much last night."_

_Last night it had taken all that Miroku and Sango had to convince Kagome to wait here over night and not race out to look for the hanyou, however now that Inuyasha's expected time of arrival was waning, Kagome's worry for her increased. She suspected something to be wrong from last night, but as she promised to wait until morning for Inuyasha, she could do nothing but worry. Now that morning was passing, Kagome was more than certain that something was wrong. "But Inuyasha hasn't returned yet. She said she would be back by morning, and it'll be noon soon."_

_Neither friend could deny that they weren't just as equally worried – although Miroku still found the time to flirt here and there when he saw the opportunity – yet they knew it wouldn't help Kagome for her to hear that. She needed to be reassured at the moment. "Maybe we should give Inuyasha a little longer. It's not the first time that she's been late." Sango gently placed her hand on the young priestess' shoulder._

"_But that's only when something's gone wrong or when she's fighting." Kagome turned to face Sango, albeit the hand remained on her shoulder, as she, this time, didn't refuse the comforting gesture. "What if something's wrong now? She even said that Naraku's demons were all over the place, what if Naraku was just waiting for a time when we would be unaware and got his demons to…"_

"_If Naraku had wanted to get Inuyasha when we were unaware he would have done so during the time Inuyasha was out in the forest to take her anger out on the other demons that usually inhabit the forest. There was more of an unpredictability of when she would return, so it would make sense that if Naraku didn't want us to know, he would do something to her when we didn't know when to expect Inuyasha to come back so that we wouldn't think as much of it." Miroku interjected before Kagome could begin to think of all the worst possibilities of what could of happened to their hanyou friend. "Besides, if Inuyasha had been up all night, I'm sure she got tired killing demons all day so she probably fell asleep in the forest."_

_Sighing, Kagome then forced a smile to make her friends think that they were making her feel better. Well, her urge to run into the forest had reduced, infinitesimally though, but she still feared the worst. "I guess I can wait a little longer."_

_Sango nodded, however she felt as if Kagome was only smiling to make them think that their efforts to comfort her weren't going to waste. Yet she knew she couldn't just come up and say that, since it would most likely make the girl feel worse. "Give her an hour, and if she's not back, we'll go looking for her."_

_As that was settled, Shippo had suddenly came running up to the group of adults, thrusting himself at Kagome who just managed to catch him without falling over. "Shippo? Are you alright? Where were you this whole time?"_

_Looking up, Shippo had a strong expression on his face, although the concern in his eyes gave away his façade. "I was looking for Miroku, because I knew Sango would get mad if she found him flirting with girls first, but then I heard something in the forest. It sounded like one of the trees fell. So I thought it was Inuyasha, cause she's always doing something that causes destruction like that, and I went in the forest to tell her that you were worried about her, Kagome, and that she should come back. But when I got there, I saw a large demon was the one that pushed the tree over and ran…it didn't come after me so I lost it but when I did I noticed Inuyasha's scent all over place where I stopped. It was old…and it was going away from the village and forest."_

_All three adults looked at the kit in shock of what they were hearing. It sounded as if Inuyasha had left the forest hours ago if the scent was old. "Shippo, did you notice if there was scent of a struggle?" Miroku asked, silently worrying that Kagome's theory had been correct and that Inuyasha was taken._

"_I didn't smell anything like that…but I noticed some parts of a Hell Wasp on the ground." Shippo replied as he also attempted to remember anything he missed. Although he had left immediately after he noticed the smell, and he didn't think to check if there was any traces of other demons there. Straining his memory, he then recalled that he had smelt some other demons there; although unbeknownst to him those demons had only passed the spot before and after Inuyasha had been there. "I think there were scents of other demons, but they were really confusing. They went all over the place."_

"_Shippo, can you remember the place where you last smelt Inuyasha's scent leaving?" Kagome asked, hoping that if Shippo did remember, and if they weren't too late, they could try and go after the dog demon. Nodding, Shippo then pointed in the direction he came from. "Sure, it was over there. It actually wasn't too far from here."_

_Everyone then entered the hut to gather their things. As they were about to leave, Kaede walked in upon the scene of everyone's weapons in hand and ready to leave the hut. "Is something wrong? Ye all have your weapons and ye auras are pervaded with concern." For a moment, Kaede contemplated that they may have been leaving, although she couldn't see Inuyasha anywhere and doubted that they would leave without the half demon._

"_Kaede, we think Inuyasha was taken by Naraku's demons." Kagome answered, though feeling her stomach churn as saying this aloud was causing the guilt that she didn't go with her gut feeling to go after Inuyasha when she first was concerned and allowed her to be taken was getting to her. It was probably a good thing she had been too nervous to eat breakfast that morning, otherwise she was sure it would have came back up._

"_We're going to go after her while we still have her scent to follow." Sango added before giving a short glance at the small nekomata by her side that would help them with tracking Inuyasha. "Sorry that we need to leave so soon but…"_

"_There is no need for an apology. I understand." The elderly priestess interrupted though in a calm and gentle voice. "Ye best be going then if ye wish to find Inuyasha in time."_

_Saying their farewells, everyone soon exited the hut, leaving Kaede to watch as the three humans and two small demons hurried off into the forest to find the scent that they could use to track their half demon friend._

--

In her large form, Kilala flew just over the thicket of trees that grew from the forest they were passing. Sango, Kagome and Shippo were riding atop the nekomata, who was unable to fly through the forest with all that were sitting on her back. This left Miroku to run in the forest alone, with his spiritual powers enhancing his speed to keep up.

When the trees thinned, Kilala lowered until they were flying besides the running monk. "You alright Miroku?" Sango asked, concern evident in her tone. With the scent they were following beginning to fade, they hadn't been able to have the opportunity to stop and rest, and the slayer couldn't help but feel worried that all this running would take its toll on Miroku.

"You know, ever since Inuyasha has become a female, in one week I've been running more than any one human would run in their entire life." He jested, trying not to let either female to think that they would need to stop sooner than usual just so that he could rest after endless hours of running. After all, demons didn't need to rest as often as humans, so they all knew that once they stopped to rest at night, they would most likely lose the trail entirely. Which was why they had to cover as much ground as possible today, and why Miroku didn't want anyone to worry about how tired all this running would make him.

Kagome sighed, knowing well that if she weren't sitting here on Kilala, Miroku would be here instead and not running. "Sorry about this Miroku. If I wasn't sitting here then you wouldn't need to run."

Slightly taken aback by what Kagome said, Miroku's expression was immediately replaced by a reassuring smile. "There's no need to apologize. After all, I couldn't expect to let one of you lovely ladies to run instead."

"And it's comforting having someone ride with me that won't attempt to grope my butt every five seconds." Sango added, shooting a knowing glare in direction of the now guilty looking monk. Both were coincidently thinking of all the times Sango had slapped Miroku, causing him to fall and crash to the earth below. However, where those memories caused her glare to become harsher, he merely winced at remembering the pain of each and every slap and fall.

The priestess and fox demon looked back and forth between the slayer and monk, figuring that the two were thinking of the same memories, although having different reactions to them. Breaking the awkward silence that ensued, Kagome turned to look at the kitsune that sat contently in her arms. "Shippo, are we still going in the right direction?" In truth, she was more than certain that they were going in the correct direction, as only a few moments ago Shippo confirmed this, and Kilala's sense of smell was quite adept in tracking Inuyasha's scent. Though she merely needed anything to say to break the uncomfortable silence.

Shippo seemed to have understood when he saw Kagome's expression, as when his face once held confusion, it now shone with understanding. "Wha…oh! Yeah, we're going the right way. It's lucky that Inuyasha is upwind, since it's blowing her scent right to us." There was a confirming growl from the giant feline, as Kilala glanced back slightly at the passengers on her back to let them know that she was agreeing with what Shippo had said.

"So how long do you think it'll take for us to catch up to her?" The moment Kagome asked this question, silence had overcame the group once again. No one wished to answer that, since they all knew the reality of their chances to catch up to the hanyou. Little to none – unless she was caught in an exhausting fight or returned back in their direction, which would be their only chances to gain up on the half demon. Inuyasha already was many hours ahead of them (how long they did not know though) and she would most likely be moving at a faster pace than they were moving at currently. Not to mention that being humans, they knew they had to stop and rest every night, whereas no one could be sure how long Inuyasha could go for without rest or food. If it weren't for the wind being on their side, they were sure that they probably would have lost the scent by now.

Ironically, the moment they mentally thanked the wind assisting to blow the dog demon's scent in their direction, the wind began to pick up, now blowing the scent away and also surrounding them, coming from all directions. Kilala had no choice but to land in the nearest clearing, while Miroku stopped besides the cat demon, praying to Buddha that he and his friends wouldn't be blown away by the sudden gale force.

Shippo being much smaller and lighter than the adults; Kagome hugged the demon child to her chest, determined not to allow anything to separate the two. Sharing the same feelings, Shippo clung as tightly as he could to the teenage girl, though also attempting to look around to see what was going on. Albeit that failed as the strong wind blowing right at them was stinging his eyes, causing him to close them to protect the delicate organs. "What's going on?!" His voice was just barely heard above the sound the wind made.

But no one could answer it, since everyone else's eyes were also closed to protect their eyes. They all stood their ground, trying to keep their positions and not be blown into the trees of the forest surrounding them. It came to a relief once the wind finally stopped, yet as they opened their eyes and glanced around, their relief evaporated as if it were never there when they saw an oh-so familiar being standing just before them with her fan held out wide open for attack.

"Kagura!"

Kagura looked at them over the edge of her fan, a sense of boredom reflecting in her red irises due to the task she was about to do. "Don't think I'm anymore glad to be seeing you too." As she lowered her fan so that her face could be seen by the group, she observed the beings that stood in the clearing, seeing that Naraku was indeed truthful when he said Inuyasha would not be here. For a moment she was suspecting that whatever Naraku had to preoccupy Inuyasha, she would have somehow managed to return to her companions by now. "Aren't you missing a group member?"

"You should know, and you obviously don't sound that surprised about it either." Sango jumped off Kilala while pulling her Hiraikotsu off her back at the same time. Landing in a fighter's stance, she held Hiraikotsu up high then tossed it at the wind sorceress. "HIRAIKOTSU!"

Waving her fan, a gust of wind picked up and blew the bone boomerang away from Kagura and straight into the ground, just two metres away from its owner. "A simple attack like that won't be able to harm me." A small smirk graced her face as she watched the demon slayer's eyes narrow in her direction.

Having gotten off of Kilala, Kagome gently put Shippo back onto the cat demon's back as she then pulled an arrow and notched it into her bow. She aimed the arrow directly at Kagura, determination written all over her expression. She instantly let the arrow fly, a pink aura trailing behind the Sacred Arrow. However, Kagura managed to leap out of the way and dodge the attack before it could purify her, leaving the trees behind her to be obliterated in the resulting explosion.

Her smirk disappeared and she glared at the young miko who was placing another arrow into her bow, and taking aim once again. It was apparent that Naraku was trying to do all that he could to deter them from finding Inuyasha before the trail disappeared completely. And despite Kagome usually wasn't one to resort to violence so easily, nothing was going to get in her way to find the dog demon that she had grown so close to. "Kagura, tell us where Naraku took Inuyasha or I'll shoot – and this time I'll be sure that it hits."

'_Took? So they're not aware that Inuyasha willingly left them?_' Kagura contemplated for a moment before replying."Even if I could tell you, I wouldn't have anything to say." The sound of buzzing and hard flesh wriggling noisily in the sky could be heard, causing Kagura to glance at the oncoming swarm of weak demons through the corners of her eyes. Naraku had to of sent them, knowing that the wind sorceress could not be trusted to actually do the job he ordered her to do when not under surveillance. '_Damn it…I had thought that I wouldn't have to deal with those stupid demons of his to watch me. Suppose there's no way to go any easier on them without being realised._'

"Look!" Shippo called out, pointing towards the hoard of demons that were fast approaching them. Every member of the group turned to look up at the sky, a serious look plastered on all their faces. Things had just become more difficult than just fighting Kagura.

Having her arrow already notched in her bow, Kagome's target quickly changed from being Kagura to the now approaching demons. Releasing her arrow, a pink aura surrounded her arrow, leaving a glowing trail in the air as her Sacred Arrow flew straight for the demons, purifying some of them only for those demons to be replaced by others that had been in the back of the hoard.

In this time, Sango rushed over to her forgotten weapon that lay abandoned on the ground. In seemingly one movement, she swiftly picked up the Hiraikotsu then tossed it at the oncoming attack. "HIRAIKOTSU!" Though just as Kagome's Sacred Arrow, whatever the Hiraikotsu destroyed, only more demons would replace their place in the swarm when the boomerang returned. "There's too many of them."

"I don't think that I'll have enough arrows for this." Kagome worried aloud as she looked back to see that she hadn't managed to restock her arrows from her stay with Kaede, so barely would have a sufficient number to use in order to fight with considering the number of demons she would need to purify.

Knowing that if they engaged in a battle with the demons, they would most likely lose being unable to defeat that many no matter how weak, Miroku took a step in front of the rest of the group, clutching onto the beads around his cursed hand in preparation to pull them off. "Stand back. I'll use my Wind Tunnel to dispose of these demons." However, he never got the chance to as several protests erupted from behind him.

"You can't do that Miroku! Naraku's Hell Wasps are among those demons!" Kagome attested, while the fox kit on her shoulder agreed with the teenage girl. "Yeah! You'll be poisoned the moment you try to suck them up!"

"There won't be any point in destroying them if you end up killing yourself in the process. We're too far from Kaede's to go back and make it in time if you poison yourself." Sango slowly walked up to the monk, causing his arm to lower, though ruefully. "Just please, Miroku, don't use your Wind Tunnel."

Turning to look at the slayer, then the untamed priestess and fox demon behind him, Miroku sighed as he realised that even if he attempted to use his Wind Tunnel, one of them would obviously try to forcefully stop him. He released his hold on the beads, yet said nothing, unable to think of a response that wouldn't end with him trying to reason that they didn't have another choice.

'_Maybe I won't need to fight these humans then. If Naraku's demons are going to do my job instead, I'll just simply watch them _(the demons)_ get destroyed._' Kagura thought with a slight smirk, thinking that she'll manage to get away without having to do as she was told. Although, to her – and everyone else's – surprise, the demons only surrounded the clearing like a wall, yet did not move to make an attack. They merely watched the scene, many buzzing filling the atmosphere and causing a great annoyance.

"Hey, they're not attacking." Shippo blinked in confusion, watching as the demons only surrounded them yet did nothing more to make a move to attack. However, everyone still had their guard up nether the less; Kilala growing dangerously at the demons, warning them that she would attack if they came near. "Why aren't they attacking us?"

"Maybe they've come to make sure we wouldn't get away." Sango suggested, preparing to throw her weapon at them. "Or attack when our guard is down. Kilala, keep Kagome and Shippo safe." She ordered the large cat, who yowled in agreement, as she readied her weapon.

However, that was far from the real reason, and Kagura knew this. '_No. They're here to make sure that I do what Naraku ordered me to do. Seems like there's no way around this than to actually fight them._' Frowning at the annoying demons and Hell Wasps that were keeping an eye on her, the wind sorceress snapped her fan open – she had closed it previously when she thought she wouldn't need to fight – and waved it to send an attack at the group. "Dance of Blades!"

Kilala had grabbed the scruff on Kagome's neck then flew out of the way, just dodging the attack as it came at them. "Phew, that was too close. Thanks Kilala." Kagome said as she looked down at the attack that had missed her, Shippo quivering on her shoulder as he too looked down. But unfortunately for him, with all the demons surrounding the clearing, there was nowhere for him to hide until the battle was over. "Kagome, with all the demons here, there's nowhere to go that'll get us out of the way of the battle."

As Kilala put them down some distance, Kagome had noticed what Shippo was talking about. '_Shippo's right. I know I was told not to use my arrows, but if I can't get out of the fight, then I'll have no choice but to use them all before we find Inuyasha._'

"Sango! Look out!" Not having noticed the attack Kagura had sent when she was about to attack the demons, Sango was completely surprised when she heard Miroku's voice calling out to her, though before she could react she noticed Miroku quickly using his staff to place up barrier around the two of them, blocking the attack Kagura had sent. "Sango, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. What about Kagome, Shippo and Kilala?" Sango asked, now concerned when she glanced over at them as they were landing. "I think they're fine. Kilala got them out of the way in time." Miroku explained, also taking a quick glance at them just to be sure that they were indeed still safe.

They had managed to dodge her attack easily, not that Kagura was too disappointed. Though she knew that would lead Naraku to be suspicious because they were still unscathed, even though it was just one attack. The restlessness of the demons behind her was a clear sign that they were thinking the same thing, that is, if they could really think other than the suggestions Naraku put into their heads. Again she waved her fan, sending another attack at the humans and smaller demons. "Dance of Blades!"

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **Sorry if it sounds rushed at the end, I just wanted to hurry and get it out while I could.

Well hopefully that explains all the missing bits from last chapter with the flashbacks in this chapter. Also, yes a fight scene will be coming up. I just had to be evil and end it just as it started. And in the next chapter, another character will be appearing! Must be exciting for all of you...oh yeah I won't be updating for a while so I suppose I'm just being cruel now just letting you know that another character will be appearing and not updating for a while. Oh and I also hinted a bit about Naraku's plan, and that's not going to be followed up either. Man, don't you just hate me now for setting up a chapter like this on purpose when I knew I wouldn't have time to update the next soon enough?


	6. Oh Brother

**AN: **Hey! I'm finally back after all those horrible tests! I completely hate school for it...but at least now I finally get time to start updating again. They were so evil, I don't know why but they were marking really hard...in one subject only 7 people passed, and it was only by a few marks, but the rest failed. It was English too, and that's usually the one that you can't get anything wrong! But funny thing is, the reason the entire school did so bad was because they said we just wrote the wrong answer. Please I would like someone to explain HOW do you get an answer wrong when the question asks WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?! It's not like in Maths where 1 plus 1 must always equal 2! It's asking for a damn opinion! You can't get an opinion wrong! That's just illogical!

I probably shouldn't be ranting so much...but I am pissed about it. Especially cause they gave me a bad mark because I decided to write about anime and manga...they said we could choose if we wanted to write about our own "text" or use the one from school. It wasn't like what I choose was so different from the boring stories we had to learn in school. I mean come on, one was about some guy who was angry at everything because he got discriminated against all his life and didn't get along with his family. So I decided to do Inuyasha instead, because he gets discriminated and he doesn't get along with Sesshomaru! They try to kill each other, you can't not get along any better than that! The other was about some guy with a split personality, so I wrote about Rurouni Kenshin! Kenshin does have a split personality cause of Battousai! So that should count! And the last one I had to do was these bunch of police that were trying to find some criminal who killed a group of kids, but the killer ended up being someone that was always around them but never really did anything to be important in the story. So I wrote about Death Note, cause there are police and detectives looking for Light (Kira) in it, and he was with the ones looking for him the entire time! Same damn story line! But nooo the stupid school said because it was not the stories they gave us to write about it doesn't count. Why DON'T they just SAY that BEFORE I wrote that in the test instead of saying PICK WHATEVER YOU WANT!

Alright, sorry enough of the ranting. I'll get to the story now. But first...

Thanks to: YASHA3393, First and the Last Spartan, DragonWolf669, Illidan the Half Demon, and AwesomeHachi1521316 for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. It's illegal to own a person, since they don't allow slavery, so all the characters in it have a right to not be owned by any one person (curses) Stupid laws giving characters their own rights!

* * *

はじめ。

* * *

**Chapter Six: Oh Brother**

The wind glided gently across the plain, brushing the grass and leaves as it passed. There was a calming and rhythmic flow to the breeze, however that just made it all the more unnatural, which was not a good sign. A certain scent was being carried on this strange wind, and that only caused the tall being walking across this plain's suspicion to rise. The source of this scent had obviously wanted him to sense it before its arrival.

"Lord Sesshomaru, why did we stop?" An innocent young voice asked, only to be soon scolded by a much higher and squeakier voice. "Rin, can't you see that Lord Sesshomaru is too preoccupied to answer your stupid question?!"

Rin had been staring at the tall demon lord in front of her expectantly before turning to the retainer that had just snapped at her. "But I just wanted to know." Usually she was smiling, however now she had an adorably curious expression that was custom of young children to give when they wanted to know something.

There was a snort from the dragon, Ah-Un, that walked behind the two, making Jaken glance back at the dragon because of the sudden sound he made, before turning back to Rin to reply. "It's such an obvious answer that MiLord wouldn't waste his time in answering it."

"Then do you know why we stopped, Master Jaken?"

Scoffing, Jaken then over confidently stated, "Don't be ridiculous Rin. Of course I would know." However, he had not a clue about what was going on in the head of the lord he served. Hardly anyone ever did know. "So will you tell Rin?" That patented smile of hers had returned to her face, expecting the imp to be able to answer the question she had wanted to be answered since she first asked it.

At that moment the smug attitude Jaken had just seconds ago disappeared instantly, and his expression fell. He had not an idea of how to answer that, though he in no way would admit that he didn't know. Especially after behaving like he had known of why they had stopped travelling so suddenly. "Uh…I…um…" A drop of sweat ran down his forehead as he attempted to think of a way to answer the question without really answering. Not to mention that look Rin was giving him that showed she completely believed what he had said and was awaiting him to answer was putting more pressure on the retainer. "Just be patient and you'll see soon."

For a moment, Rin looked away, her expression revealing that she appeared to be deep in thought. It was now Jaken's turn to watch expectantly for a reaction, until Rin suddenly turned back at him with a cheerful smile. "Alright, Rin will wait!" This caused a huge sigh of relief from the imp.

During the small commotion between his ward and retainer, Sesshomaru continued to stand ever-still as he stared out into the direction he detected the scent was coming from. Though he could hear exactly what Rin and Jaken were talking about, he hadn't bothered to give them any acknowledgment that he was aware of their conversation or presence.

The despicable scent increased, and already Sesshomaru could tell that the being of whose scent it belonged to was within the forest that was just a few metres in front of himself and his charges. It was clear that this being had wanted him to be aware that they were there before they revealed themselves.

It wasn't long until the sound of buzzing was audible enough for even Jaken and Rin to hear, which caused them to cease talking and take notice of what the demon lord had already identify the presence of. Ah-Un grunted uncomfortably behind the two, recognising what this sound was, and instantly disliking it. "Ah-Un seems restless." Rin commented, looking back at the dragon.

"Jaken."

Said imp jumped in surprise by the first time he had heard Sesshomaru talk since that morning when he had told them all that they were first leaving. "Yes MiLord?" Though he had no idea what was going on, Jaken had a horrible feeling that something bad was about to happen if Sesshomaru had to stop and think before only now deciding to order him to do something. "Make sure that nothing harms Rin."

That order just confirmed Jaken's dread. "Yes MiLord…" Before he had finished saying the last word, an oh-so familiar group of wasps were flying out of the forest and into their view. "Look Master Jaken!" Rin pointed to the small group of wasps, which caused Jaken to instantly hold out the Staff of Two Heads he carried in a position ready to attack with it if needed. "It's that devilish hanyou's, Naraku, Hell Wasps!"

Just at the mention of that name, did the owner of it stepped out from the shadows of the forest, a baboon pelt covering the form of the half demon that had caused everyone so much trouble. "Sesshomaru, it is unexpected that you would be here, especially now of all times."

Sesshomaru stared at the hanyou hidden under the baboon pelt with an indifferent expression. Despite what Naraku had said, Sesshomaru much doubted that his appearance here was unexpected, considering that Naraku had allowed his own scent to be leaked out to keep him in this clearing. "What do you want?" Naraku was up to something, and being the no nonsense type of demon Sesshomaru was, he just wanted to get that out of the way before killing the stupid half demon.

"After coming all this way to find me, are you that impatient to leave without attempting anything?"

"You're only a mere imitation that I could kill easily. I will not waste my time needlessly on dirt made to look like the pathetic half demon that created it."

There was an unsettling smirk that appeared under the mask of the demon puppet's baboon pelt after that response. "I see. Then I won't waste so much of your precious time." It drawled out in mock, and taking a long pause just to stir Sesshomaru's impatience for the sick amusement of one who used the Hell Wasps that flew around the puppet to watch the event before continuing. "Especially when I'm sure you wish to see your dear little _brother_."

Eyes narrowing, Sesshomaru fought the incredible urge to kill the demon puppet now for just bringing his brother up so casually. He already knew what would happen now – the demon puppet would tell him something about Inuyasha and try to trick him into going to either kill his younger half brother or to go see him to confirm something in order to fall into some trap. Not that he cared for what had happened to Inuyasha, although the feud between them was a private matter, one in which Naraku had no right to involve himself in for the sake of his own plans.

This slight reaction didn't go unnoticed by the Naraku demon puppet, whose smug expression was evident despite it was hidden behind the face of the baboon pelt. "Have I touched a nerve?"

"How ridiculous. You think that this Sesshomaru would be concerned of that half breed's affairs?"

"Of course not. It's not like the _great _Lord Sesshomaru to ever care about any other living being besides himself…especially not one that is considered as _his_ own _kin_."

By this point, Jaken was unable to remain quiet while this imitation demon of dirt continued to mock his lord and master. "How dare you imply that Lord Sesshomaru would ever care about what happens to those that are lower than him, especially that stupid and weak half brother of his that has caused him nothing but trouble! Is the only reason you came here for was to insult MiLord?!"

The demon puppet turned to look at Jaken, who Naraku expected would eventually interject his opinion in the conversation once his demon puppet insulted Sesshomaru enough. "I only came to bring news of Inuyasha's transformation, seeing as for something as big as this, surely he would want his only family to know of it."

Jaken's free hand fisted, and he glared at the demon puppet – if he had had teeth he would have most likely gritted them. "Didn't I just tell you that Lord Sesshomaru doesn't want to know about-"

"What do you mean by transformation?" Sesshomaru spoke over Jaken, causing the imp to finally cease talking as he blinked up at his lord in confusion.

Turning back to the demon lord, that smirk the demon puppet had at the beginning of the conversation returned now. Apparently Sesshomaru had just grasped onto the information he had hoped the dog demon would have noted. "Now now, I was only here to tell you about his transformation, I have no intention in ruining the surprise by telling you what his transformation is exactly."

"I see." Sesshomaru stared at the demon puppet stoically as he moved his clawed hand to Tokijin. "Then you no longer have any more to tell us." He rested his hand on the hilt, wrapping his fingers tightly around it. "Which means there's no need to allow you to remain in one piece." Before one's heart could make a beat, Sesshomaru had swiftly pulled out Tokijin, releasing a powerful blast of energy at the demon puppet and Hell Wasps, incinerating them all within that one attack.

Slipping back Tokijin into his slash, Sesshomaru then casually made his way over to the remains of the demon puppet to confirm that it was dead. There was nothing except for dirt and two halves of a wooden doll with a hair wrapped around it that remained on the ground.

Rin ran up to the demon lord after a few seconds, with Jaken pulling Ah-Un by the reigns following behind her. "Lord Sesshomaru, you're so strong. You killed Naraku and all those wasps in one attack." She praised with sincere admiration.

"Don't be foolish Rin! That wasn't Naraku, it was just a cheap imitation." Jaken snapped at the child, before closing his eyes and looking quiet smug as he began giving Sesshomaru his own praises. "However, if that had been the real Naraku, no doubt that Lord Sesshomaru would have defeated him just as easily. It's no wonder why he can only face MiLord through the use of a puppet. He must know a half demon like him can never hope to stand against the power of-" It ended there as Sesshomaru began walking away, stepping on top of Jaken to silence him along the way.

Grabbing onto Ah-Un's reigns, Rin then was about to follow after Sesshomaru before he stopped her from taking another step by his next words. "Rin, stay here with Jaken and Ah-Un. If you need anything, Jaken will handle it until I return."

Letting go of the reigns, Rin only nodded in compliance. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru." She knew that Sesshomaru would come back for her, as he always had, so didn't feel that upset that she would be left behind. Besides, this time she had Jaken to keep her company as well as Ah-Un.

As soon as he had heard that he'd be staying behind, Jaken suddenly got up from where he had been squished into the ground previously. He didn't want to stay behind and made to protest. "But MiLord- …" However by then it had been too late, Sesshomaru was already gone, leaving the imp there to baby-sit an overly cheerful human child. "He left without me again! Oh why does Lord Sesshomaru always leave me behind?!" He then sighed dejectedly, slumping to sit on the ground now.

Rin stared at Jaken for a moment, watching how upset he seemed. '_Master Jaken seems upset…maybe I should find him some flowers to make him happy!_' With that she began searching around for any flower she could see nearby, and instantly one caught her attention. A nice dark purple large flower that stuck out in this sort of environment as it didn't appear like it normally grew there, however Rin didn't care as she picked it up and suddenly ran over to the imp with it. "Master Jaken, look what I got for you!"

"Hm?" Jaken glanced up to see Rin holding the peculiar purple flower out at him. "I picked this out all for you-ow!" She quickly opened the hand that she held the flower with and noticed that a thorn had pricked her finger, causing it to bleed.

Panicking, Jaken suddenly jumped up. "Rin! You stupid girl! Watch what you're doing!" He had to do something before Sesshomaru found out about this and blamed him for it. Inwardly he shivered at the thought of what his lord would do to him if he found out that he had allowed Rin to get hurt.

Staring at the small cut for a moment, Rin then noticed that strangely the cut had healed itself in that instant. She looked up at Jaken with a curious expression, and held up the finger that had healed itself. "Look Master Jaken, the cut healed itself." Hearing this, Jaken had ceased panicking and now observed the "injured" finger, only to see no injury. "It couldn't have, you're just a mere human. You can't heal yourself that quickly. You were probably imagining it."

"But it was bleeding and Rin saw it close up!" Rin argued, yet Jaken didn't appear to be listening. "Go and pick more flowers, but don't pick any more with thorns." Sighing as he just so soon waved her off, Rin then slowly turned around and went back to the patch she found the purple flower she was holding. '_But I saw it heal up on its own._' She glanced down to stare at the flower in her hand, noticing how beautiful it was. Although she knew she couldn't keep it if it had a thorn, and as she was about to let it go, she then realised that the thorn that had been there before was no longer there. "It doesn't have any thorns." '_But I thought there were…maybe Master Jaken was right…maybe I did imagine it._'

* * *

It had been a very long time since the last swarm of Hell Wasps, and Inuyasha was beginning to think that maybe she had seen the last of them the last time she killed them. Although she was still slightly cautious, in case there was a chance that they were still following her but kept well hidden so that she wouldn't have sensed them.

"Master Inuyasha, we're getting close now! At the rate you're going, it should take less than ten minutes to arrive in the forest where Bokuseno resides." Myoga commented from his position from Inuyasha's shoulder.

The half demon smirked slightly at that comment. "Bout time that something went right for once." After she changed back into her original gender, she would definitely never criticise how slow Kagome ran, now that she knew how hard it was to try and run in a dress or skirt without it going up and attempting to show everyone what was underneath. '_Although what I don't get is, if it was just my gender that changed, why did my outfit had to become a kimono? Couldn't I have just kept the hakama? It'd sure make running a lot easier for me._' (**AN:** Ahem…uh I didn't expect that Inuyasha would realise that little detail…)

However, something strange caught Inuyasha's senses, and instantly she began looking around, sniffing the air. "That scent…" Without her knowing, her running had slowed down, to allow her more of a chance to take in more of what was around her. Yet Myoga noticed this detail and then looked up at the dog demon. "Is something wrong, Master?"

"Yeah. It smells like…" Suddenly a flash of blue Kenatsu was heading in Inuyasha's direction, though fortunately she had just managed to leap out of the way, landing in the nearest clearing as she could. Quickly she placed her hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga, glaring at the shadowy figure that suddenly leapt into the clearing with her. "Sesshomaru, what the fuck was that for?!"

Standing just mere metres away from the hanyou was Sesshomaru, who had now placed his Tokijin back into his slash. If Inuyasha hadn't sensed his scent coming, they both were sure she would have been hit by the attack.

"Oi bastard! Don't think you can fucking try to attack me without saying a damn thing!" She began growling, her fingers tightening around Tetsusaiga before she suddenly pulled the large fang out of its sheath. Sesshomaru was still refusing to answer her, which was only helping to infuriate her more. "Ya know what, I don't have time for this shit! I'll just go right through you if you don't get out of my way!"

She suddenly began to rush towards Sesshomaru, who hadn't bothered to do a thing and just stood there. However, there hadn't been a need to as just a metre away from her older brother, Inuyasha had suddenly fell and crashed down into the ground. "Agh…what the hell happened…" She sat up, rubbing her head from impact of the fall, though quiet confused about what happened.

"It could only be you Inuyasha, as you would be the only one foolish enough to do something such as that." Sesshomaru finally spoke, though staring at Inuyasha with an expression that he had never had to express before.

Ears twitching atop her head, Inuyasha suddenly turned to Sesshomaru and glared up at him. "Shut up! What the hell were-…" As she was standing up with Tetsusaiga still in hand, she froze in mid sentence when she spotted the look of – was that amusement? – on the usual stoic and emotionless face of her brother. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that?!"

Sesshomaru almost could not believe what he was seeing. At first when Naraku had mentioned Inuyasha's transformation, he expected it had something to do with Inuyasha's full demon form, although that didn't seem possible because Inuyasha in her full demon form would make her easier for Naraku to fool into killing her own friends, which would be advantageous to him. However _this _was something Sesshomaru was positive he could have never guessed. It had actually taken him quite a while to watch Inuyasha's behaviour at first just to asscertain that it really was his brother that he was seeing and not an illusion. "No reason little brother…or should I be saying little _sister_?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha blinked at Sesshomaru for a moment before realisation sunk in. Slowly she glanced down at her own body, now remembering that she was standing in front of her cold hearted and pompous brother as a woman! Red instantly crept its way into her face, and Inuyasha looked back at Sesshomaru thoroughly embarrassed. "SHUT UP BASTARD!" Of all the people that had to see her like this, it just had to Sesshomaru? '_Fuck this! I fucking rather __**ANYONE**__ see me, and I fucking mean __**ANYONE**__, like this except Sesshomaru! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!_'

"Now Inuyasha, that is no way for a _lady_ to talk." Though he'd hate to admit, and would kill anyone for even implying it, but Sesshomaru was partially grateful that Naraku had dropped by to persuade him into coming to see Inuyasha, especially now knowing how easily he could piss her off in this form. Usually he would have wanted to kill Inuyasha at first sight, but somehow ridiculing Inuyasha's misfortune for being turned into a girl seemed much more satisfying than killing her at the moment.

Inuyasha gritted her fangs, growling in anger and loath. She so badly wanted to scratch that smug face of Sesshomaru's at that moment. "I am NOT a _**LADY**_!"

"You may be correct for once. I suppose the term _bitch_ would be more adequate for you." Suddenly Inuyasha leapt at Sesshomaru with Tetsusaiga high over her head, though Sesshomaru simply stepped out of the way, and as before, Inuyasha had lost her balance and fell crashing into the ground. "It's pointless trying to fight me when you can barely remain standing during an attack."

Shaking her head, Inuyasha shot a furious glare at the older demon. "Shut up! I fucking don't need to take your advice!" She spat. Grabbing Tetsusaiga she got to her feet once again. Although the urge to attack Sesshomaru was still there, this time she tried to resist, knowing that like her past two attempts, she'd fall over in the middle of the attack, though she had no idea why this happened.

The amusement that had made a rare appearance on Sesshomaru's face was now gone, replaced by his usual indifferent expression. "Of course not. That would have been the intelligent thing to do, though we both know you are anything but intelligent." And again, Inuyasha had unwisely attempted to try and attack Sesshomaru with Tetsusaiga again, only to again loose her balance and fall over without even her hit going anywhere near her target. "DAMN IT! WHY THE HELL DO I KEEP ON FALLING DOWN?!"

Tired with his…sibling's (It caused too much confusion to determine what Inuyasha was now to Sesshomaru due to the gender change, thus sibling was the only safe one) antics, Sesshomaru turned his back on the fallen half demon and began walking away. Now that he had came to see Inuyasha and confirmed that Naraku had not been lying when said that Inuyasha had "transformed", there was no reason for him to stay any longer.

Once back to her feet again, Inuyasha blinked as she noticed Sesshomaru leaving. "Hey! Where the hell are you going?! Come back! You just can't fucking come here and attack me then damn walk off like that!" She still wanted a chance to get her revenge, or at least attempt to hit Sesshomaru without falling down before the attack can hit its target.

"I don't find any interest in defeating a weakling that can barely keep themselves off the ground." Sesshomaru continued to walk away, though from behind him he could hear a growl then the sound of running footsteps coming right at him. "Weakling am I?! Well how about you fucking turn around and fight me and I'll show you which one of us is the real weakling!" It wasn't even worth the effort to turn around, since Inuyasha was bound to lose her balance again and fall over before Tetsusaiga even came close to touching him, however this time Sesshomaru had had enough of his stubborn sibling.

Inuyasha was nearing Sesshomaru's back, which was slowly turning around to reveal the front of her opponent. Albeit, just as expected, she wasn't even close to attacking the older demon, as once again she lost her balance and began falling forward, except this time an extremely hard force was there to meet her square in the gut and cause her to go flying backwards.

Dazed from the impact, Inuyasha simply landed on her back after the collision, though quickly had to sit up as she began coughing. '_What the fuck hit me?!_' She didn't recall seeing anything, yet then she was falling over at the time so it was kind of hard for her to notice anything else around her while she was falling.

A bit of blood had come out of her mouth, but afterwards Inuyasha had ceased coughing. Though that was the least of her worries as when she sat up immediately the flesh on her neck came into contact with the sharp steel point of the tip of Tokijin. Slightly surprised at seeing Sesshomaru already standing over her with a sword ready to run her through to the back of her throat, Inuyasha had barely realised that her sword had been knocked out of her hand when she had been forced back.

Sesshomaru glared down intensely at the hanyou, while the same golden eyes of Inuyasha stared up in complete loathing of the full-fledged demon above her. The two alike yet different orbs locked glares in a fierce battle between fire and ice. However, Inuyasha soon had to break this lock as the smell of her own blood increased, causing her to glance down at her gut, which now had a fist sized hole in it that bled through her kimono. "Wha?" Quickly she looked back up, only to notice the slight red that coated Sesshomau's only hand – the same red as blood. It was now obvious what had happened when she had fallen over before; Sesshomaru had simply punched her with as much force as he could.

"Pathetic…you couldn't even last more than one strike." It would be easy for Sesshomaru to finally kill his younger sibling now, although there would have been no honour in it because Inuyasha had been unable to retaliate at all. Despite that it had been her own fault for forcing him to fight her when she could hardly keep her balance, Sesshomaru placed Tokijin into his slash, deciding to allow Inuyasha to live this time – at least until she was capable of fighting so it didn't feel as if he only won because his opponent was disadvantaged. "If you still have any doubt about whom of us is the weaker, then attempt to attack me again. However if you do, I will not hesitate to detach your empty head from your useless body." With that he began walking away.

This caused Inuyasha to be completely baffled as Sesshomaru had simply walked away, leaving her relatively in good condition (with exception of the hole in the gut). "What hell are you doing?! I thought you were going to fight me! What? Don't tell me you chickened out at the last second!" She quickly scrambled to her feet, easily capable of ignoring the pain of her wound.

But Sesshomaru continued to ignore anything Inuyasha said and resumed walking at a normal pace. He never explained himself when he didn't want to, and he would not make any exception to this dim-witted half-breed that was just practically asking for him to rip her vocal cords out through the throat.

Eventually his entire form was no longer visible as he disappeared into the forest. Cursing audibly, Inuyasha kicked a rock that happened to be nearby straight into one of the trees of the forest. Not only did she despise it when her older brother would just simply ignore her like that but even worse was that Sesshomaru found her in this state too pathetic to even want to kill. Although it could be argued as a good thing, Inuyasha's pride had taken a huge hit when he'd just left her without even taking a proper shot at her because she wasn't capable of fighting.

'_I didn't need that fucking bastard's pity to live through that. I could of gotten out of it myself. Damn bastard…he always fucking has to think that he's better than everyone. Why didn't that bastard Naraku turn Sesshomaru into a girl instead of me?! He already looks the part!_ _Plus it'd damn serve him right for always being up himself!_'

Inuyasha continued to think of many derogative thoughts of her brother as she picked up the Tetsusaiga she had dropped and transformed it back into its rusty katana form to put back into its sheath. However she merely sighed, knowing that no matter what possibilities she imagined should happen, it wasn't going to.

Myoga had ran off the second Sesshomaru had launched that Kenatsu at her, just as expected from the flea. Though Inuyasha didn't care if Myoga returned by now or not. The forest where the tree Bokuseno was close by and she had remembered what direction it was in. So at least she knew that if Myoga didn't come back in time she could at least be capable of finding the tree herself, and learn of a way to turn back into a male.

Thinking of which caused her to remember the sword she had yet to place back into the sheath. Usually Tetsusaiga was always what saved her in tight situations, however against Sesshomaru it was completely useless. Sure she had been the one tripping, however she knew for a fact it wasn't because of her own fault. She'd been fighting demons for the past two nights without any problem, however the second she tried to use Tetsusaiga to fight she couldn't help but fall over from the attack.

Glaring disdainfully at her once trusted sword, Inuyasha muttered a few angry curses under her breath.

Now that the coast was clear once again, Myoga bounded back over to her master from the place he had been hiding, landing on her shoulder while she was preoccupied. "Master Inuyasha, you're still alive. I was worried something might have happened since I didn't hear the usual explosion from your Wind Scar."

Inuyasha looked up and turned to Myoga with a deadpan expression. "You don't seem that worried to me if you so easily left me to fight against Sesshomaru on my own."

Taking offence to that statement, Myoga began jumping up and down frantically as he protested Inuyasha's claim. "How could you say that about me?! Of course I was worried! What sort of retainer would I be if I didn't worry about the life of the lord I served?!"

"Alright that's enough of that." Not in the exact mood to say something that would cause Myoga to get sensitive and then run off again, Inuyasha quickly grabbed the flea in mid jump and held him between her thumb and forefinger. "Now stop that whining and just tell me what the hell is wrong with my sword!"

"Huh?" Momentarily forgetting what he was saying, Myoga suddenly glanced at the Tetsusaiga that Inuyasha was still holding. "It doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with it. Why? Did something happen with it?"

"When I was trying to use it to fight I kept falling over with it. I couldn't even get in one fucking attack. It wasn't happening before when I was using my claws to attack. So I think there may be something wrong with it."

Blinking for a moment, Myoga glanced between the sword and Inuyasha a couple of times before looking up cheerfully as he figured it out. "Oh it wasn't Tetsusaiga's fault!"

Now it was Inuyasha's turn to blink, as she felt more confused by this. "Then why was I falling?"

"It's simple. You put too much weight forward when you're charging with Tetsusaiga, though as a male it's perfectly fine, however as a female, the way that weight is distributed in their body is different and most of it is focused at the front of the torso while there's less in the legs because they generally extend longer than a male's legs. So when you put most of your weight forward to swing, you end up unbalancing yourself and falling over. It really isn't something that complicated to fix."

Inuyasha just stared in disbelief at Myoga. So during that entire battle she could have just not leaned as forward in the charge and swing and would have been perfectly capable of fighting Sesshomaru without embarrassing herself?! And Myoga just had to pick that fine time to leave her alone _without _telling her that. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to tell me _before _I fought Sesshomaru?!"

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Myoga nervously explained why he had forgotten to tell Inuyasha of such a crucial detail. "Well I didn't want to get in between the two of you…and besides I was hoping you'd figure it out before you got too hurt."

"So in other words, you rather leave me to possibly get killed because you were that afraid than to stick around for a few lousy seconds to explain that to me at least?!" Inuyasha bared her fangs at the flea retainer, growling furiously at Myoga for leaving her to make a fool of herself in a battle while purposely knowing that she wouldn't have known that fact.

Myoga sweat dropped nervously as he knew that he was about to be squished, and since Inuyasha was holding him between her claws, he had no hope of escape. "Wait…Master Inuyasha let me explain…" Except Inuyasha didn't give Myoga that chance as she clutched the flea tightly inside her fisted hand, and then tossed him as hard as she could into the forest, only to have his progress stop as he smashed into a tree, the impact flattening him against the bark. "…it clearly…" He just barely managed to moan out as his now two dimensional body fluttered down gently to the ground.

Still fuming from what Myoga had done (or hadn't done in this case) Inuyasha placed Tetsusaiga back into its sheath and then began bounding off in direction of Bokuseno, leaving Myoga to remain as flattened as a leaf on the forest floor.

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **And that is the long awaited chapter! I know, I wrote nothing about the issue between Kagura and the rest of the gang, but that was merely because I decided to be evil enough to make you wait another chapter just to find that out! I know, I'm evil and I love doing it.

This chapter may have been a bit shorter than usual, but it was mainly just to reveal a little bit of Naraku's plans, and to get Sesshomaru in there to completely humiliate his dear little sister lol. Somehow I think that Sesshomaru had always wanted a sister, because then they could talk about good grooming habits for their hair and nails. But alas, he got Inuyasha instead. Jokes. But deep down we all know that they love each other. It's just that the two haven't realised that yet.

Just tell me if you think that I had Sesshomaru acting too OOC when he was teasing Inuyasha. I know usually he doesn't joke, but hey I could not resist the temptation! I know anyone can say that lady comment, but no one could do it as good as Sesshomaru or come up with as good a comeback so quickly! Oh and about that falling thing...yeah I know it's not that logical really, but I just needed some convinent way for Inuyasha to have not attacked Sesshomaru so that Sesshomaru would not have any reason to want to stay and fight Inuyasha. Also, it gives Inuyasha a reason to get pissed at Myoga again. I actually thought of other more serious reasons, but they were too serious, and besides, I wanted Myoga to get blamed for SOMETHING. He deserves it for just running off all the time like he does.


	7. Howl Of The Wind

**AN:** Well how has it been for anyone who's still bothered to stick around? I know, it's been over a year, which is an extremely long time to delay an update. What can I say, life gets in the way? As much as most of us would like to think that we are fanfiction authors first, and human beings second, that's completely reversed in reality. Although that really in no way excuses me from not at least trying to update once, which for that I'm really sorry. Anyway, since I was determined to finish this fanfic, it's most likely better than I at least did update, even if it took a year. I know I get annoyed if I read a fanfic that never finished, so I'm trying to avoid doing that to anyone who is still reading up to this point. So for those of you who bothered to stick around, here is the long awaited for chapter seven! By the way, I'm also updating all my other chapters, checking for any missed mistakes and changing the layout a little, so ignore all the mulitple alerts you will get.

Now time for an overdue Thanks To: YASHA3393, AwesomeHachi1521316, Navitz, Musicookie, and pumpkinpi for reveiwing!

Disclaimer: Let's see, let's see...what do I own? The idea for this story, check. These words I'm typing for this story, check. The fanfiction account that this story is on, check. The anime and manga Inuyasha, that this story is based on...not checked. If you haven't clued in, that means I don't own Inuyasha.

* * *

はじめ。

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Howl of the Wind**

"Dance of Blades!"

Tossing the untrained priestess cradling the kit onto her back, Kilala once again flew out of the way of the oncoming attack. Kagome just managed to hang onto the nekomata and Shippo without falling off herself. "Thanks Kilala." She said to the demon cat who only meowed in response. Glancing over at her friends who were still in range of the attack, Kagome called out to them. "Sango, Miroku, are you two alright?!"

Still having the barrier up, the attack only rebounded off the barrier, causing no harm to the two inside. "We're just fine Kagome!" Sango called out, turning to look at Kagome, while Miroku moved his Shajuko into an offensive position, dispelling the barrier. "How about you and Shippo?"

"It's okay, Kilala got us out of the way in time."

Seeing everyone evade her attack so easily, Kagura's attention was shortly drawn away from her targets, if only for a moment, as she noticed the demons around her behaving restlessly. '_They don't think that I'm being serious. If only there weren't so many, I could trick those humans into destroying them all for me, then escape._'

Again she waved her fan, sending another Dance of Blades attack at the monk and demon slayer, as they seemed to be the only threats, as long as Kagome wasn't able to shoot any Sacred Arrows at her. From what she remembered of the human's conversation, the young priestess did not have enough arrows to be risking using them all up in this battle.

Not having enough time to erect another barrier, Miroku leapt out of the way of the attack to dodge it, as did Sango who also managed a flip in midair when she jumped back to dodge.

Being quick to react, Sango tossed her Hiraikotsu at Kagura once again, though just as before, the wind sorceress merely blew the weapon back, increasing the time it rotated in the process. The Hiraikotsu was now spinning too quickly for Sango to catch, and being unable to dodge the attack in time, it hit her upon its return, knocking her back.

"Sango!" Seeing the slayer getting hit by her own weapon, Miroku rushed over to her, concern evidentially etched in his features.

As the monk got to her, Sango moaned audibly, though managed to sit up. "I'm fine." She answered, before anyone could ask the question. However, the immense pain that throbbed through her ribcage caused her to suddenly grab them while she attempted to stand up, wincing from the pain. The attack from her Hiraikotsu had done a considerable amount of damage, yet Sango was sure nothing was broken at least.

Despite her response, Miroku could easily tell that the demon slayer was not in any condition to fight so soon. Of course, trying to convince her of that was on the borderline of impossible. "Sango, maybe you should go to where Kagome, Shippo and Kilala are, to make sure that Kagura doesn't attack them again. I can-"

"No, Miroku. I told you that I'm fine." He had aided her to her feet, by offering his hand so that she could use it to relieve some of her own weight when standing up. "Besides, you can't expect me to just watch you fight Kagura on your own with the Hell Wasps restricting the use of your Wind Tunnel."

"But-"

"I'm going to fight by your side, and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind."

"I suggest you two save your lovers' quarrel until later, and pay attention, otherwise you'll end up dead." Interrupting their little moment, Kagura sent her Dance of Blades at Miroku and Sango the moment they had turned their attention back to the fight. Immediately they managed to dodge, although Sango moved a little slower than normal, due to her injury.

It was obvious that they weren't able to fight Kagura from a distance. With the wind in her control, she'd always be capable of using it to deflect any attack they threw at her. The two hadn't even needed to communicate aloud of what they were planning – it was clear to them both that they had to attempt boxing Kagura in for a close attack.

To start the attack, Miroku pulled out three of his sutra, and threw the scrolls at Kagura.

'_Do they honestly believe that mere paper would be enough to break through my winds when much heavier weapons could not?_' Even to the wind sorceress, this seemed like a foolish move. However, it hadn't stopped her from waving her fan, summoning a gust to blow the scrolls away. They hadn't even gotten close enough to be considered a real threat.

Something cold and hard wrapped tightly around her arm – the arm in which she had her fan in – catching Kagura off guard. "What?!" Looking at, what she now saw to be, a chain she followed it back to its source. "What's this chain?" Standing just a few more paces forward, Sango had been holding tightly onto the chain, trying to constrict her movement, and the demoness frowned. It just became apparent to her that the earlier attack had only been a diversion.

Grabbing her fan with her free hand, she fanned it down with a harsh, sharp movement. "I am the wind. I won't be contained so easily!" The silver blades of her Dance of the Blades flew at Sango, traveling up the direct track that the chain had created to get to the slayer.

Sango hadn't moved, at first, keeping a tight hold on the chain to stop Kagura from moving after initiating her attack. Within the last second, she let go and performed a cartwheel to the side and evaded the attack. However, the move was not without its consequence. After regaining her balance, she had to hold her side, groaning softly in pain. When this fight was over, she'd be sure to take a well deserved rest.

Just as Kagura thought she had a second to spare, immediately she caught Miroku coming up at her in the corner of her eye. He had slashed his Shajuko, swiftly, and she was sure that if she weren't a demon, she wouldn't have had the speed to have dodged it in time. Although two of the jade beads of her earring had been sliced off – which just went to prove how close the monk had been to hitting her.

With the momentum in his favour, Miroku pursued after Kagura, again slashing the Shajuko at her. Except this time, she had been prepared for the attack, and had planned to create some distance between them so that she could return to being on the offensive again. Jumping back, not only did she dodge his last attack, but she had been on the verge on making that distance she desired.

Seeing the chain rising as Kagura was leaping back, Sango was quick to react by grabbing her Hiraikotsu that had been abandoned on the ground for some time and slammed it into the ground, catching onto the end of the chain too. '_That should stop her!_'

The chain had done its job – Kagura was pulled back towards the ground, to her surprise. Having forgotten the dreaded item that wound its way around her arm, she couldn't prepare herself for the impact, as she fell to the ground. '_These damn humans are starting to get on my nerves._' She had first thought that this task would be easy because Inuyasha wouldn't be here to fight, however the monk and demon slayer were proving to be more of a match than she expected. If only she could fight seriously and just kill them, but if she did then that would only benefit Naraku, and then she'd never be free.

This would be it. With Kagura dead, there would be one less incarnation for them to deal with when pursuing Naraku from now on. All Miroku had to do was finish the demoness off with one swing. Except, he held his Shajuko in place, reluctant to move it. A serious expression was locked on his face as he contemplated what he was about to do; something wasn't right with this situation to him.

'_I don't understand, why haven't the demons surrounding us tried to attack yet? Kagura could possibly be killed, and they don't even appear ready to even move. Naraku wouldn't have just sent these demons to only keep us from going after him and Inuyasha…then there wouldn't have been a need for Kagura to be here. Why is that? What could Naraku be up to?_'

By now, everyone had noticed Miroku's hesitation, including Kagura who was getting quite annoyed by it. "What's wrong, monk? I thought you were trying to kill me, or are you unable to?!"

"Kagura, why did Naraku send you along with the demons?"

Eyes narrowed distrustfully, the demoness took her chance to get back to a vertical basis, when she figured that her life was being spared to be questioned. "Why do you think? Are you that stupid that you can't even realise when someone has been sent to kill you?!" Taking a wary glance at Sango, she noticed that while the monk before had lowered his guard, the slayer was prepared to attack the second she moved. So escape was not an option at the moment.

He almost expected this; Naraku was never the type to divulge too much information, even to those that worked with him. One could argue that if Kagura had known better, she was only lying, but Miroku was more than certain that she hadn't been told of her master's true intent. "Are you certain that that was the true reason for you being here?"

She had been about to say some sort of insult in retort, but paused on the first word when she noticed the demons around her stir. Was it her imagination, or were they reacting to something the human had said? '_Is it possible that this human could be right? I know Naraku doesn't care for my life, but was I really sent out here for another reason that he didn't want me to be aware of?_'

"What's Miroku saying? Why else would Kagura be here, she only ever comes to fight us." Shippo commented from the distance, listening intently as Kagome was. However, while the young kit was doubting the sanity of their friend, Kagome couldn't help but begin to think of what Miroku had just said. "Does he mean the demons?" She suddenly came to the same realisation that the demons weren't here for the reasons they suspected. They hadn't even moved once to help Kagura, nor did they seem about to attack them to keep them from going after Naraku.

Sango looked back at Kagome, only taking her eyes off the wind sorceress for a second before quickly returning her gaze on her. "They haven't tried to attack us yet." It was a confirming statement, meaning that she now understood the same thing as everyone else. Though that didn't mean she was going to let her guard down for a second – simply because Kagura didn't know why she had been really sent to distract them, didn't mean she trusted Miroku being so close to her.

Not that she was willing to share with them, but Kagura knew better than to think that the demons there were for her protection. They were only there to make sure that she did her job and didn't attempt escaping. However, Miroku's question did make her consider something – if the objective was only to distract these humans, why would he have sent so many demons and also command her to come as well? Surely this number of demons could preoccupy the humans long enough for Naraku to do whatever he needed.

"Is that's all you have to go on?" Her normal bitterness returned, making it seem as if she could care less of their assumptions, despite that their thoughts were giving her some fair few things to think about.

He couldn't make out anything from that reply. Whether Kagura knew that much or not, Miroku was sure that her response was only a way to move on. It wasn't intended to give any sort of information, which he figured he would get little of, her being an enemy and all. "Not quite. I was just wondering what you knew of Naraku's plan that requires him to…need Inuyasha?" He didn't know if the incarnation already knew that Inuyasha had been turned into a female, so he thought it was safer not to say it so blatantly. After all, he could only just imagine the half demon's reaction once she found out that he had told Kagura. The resulting thought caused him to mentally shudder.

"You mean Inuyasha being turned into a female?" She shrugged. "What would I know? If I wasn't even trusted to be told the true reason for being here, then why would I be trusted with information as valuable as that?" That had been one of the thoughts plaguing her mind. Why would Naraku change Inuyasha's gender and then willing go see her? Inuyasha had to be the biggest threat – even if Kagome's power would obliterate him in an instant, she was evidently an easy kill if there was no one to protect her from being attacked – to Naraku, so it was uncharacteristically reckless of him to do so. Although if he had made a small enough mistake, Kagura hoped that Inuyasha would use it to kill the dreaded evil demon.

"Are you sure there was nothing else? Anything that could have-" Miroku didn't even get the chance to finish his question before receiving Kagura's remark. "I don't have anything else to tell. And even if I did, why would you think an obvious enemy would do so? If that's all you had to ask, then it's about time I ended this."

Their guards had been down now, and this would be the easiest chance she'd get to escape. Before anyone even had time to process what she had said, she waved her fan, sending some of her wind blades to attack the monk that had been standing foolishly close. He didn't even have the chance to block or dodge. The attack knocked him back a distance, though that hadn't been the worst.

Nothing had hit anything vital, but there was still a considerable amount of damage done. One of the blades that carved into all along one arm, while another had nipped a part of his shoulder then spread across half of his chest, and there had been two direct hits to his torso. Despite the wounds, Miroku had to be fortunate that Kagura's Dance of the Blades hadn't had as much power in that attack.

Few cries of "Miroku!" could be heard as his body hit the ground. Though the loudest of the three had clearly been Sango, who now turned to look at Kagura with murder in her eyes. Grabbing her wakizashi she ran at the wind sorceress, ignoring any pain that throbbed from her injury.

Taking this time to take off the annoying chain that had prevented her from escaping previously, Kagura had only freed herself of its bind when she noticed the slayer's attack stabbing her in the shoulder through to the back. She gasped in a mixture of shock and pain, before turning to Sango.

Sango ripped the wakizashi out from the incarnation's shoulder, opening the wound further. If Kagura had been born like most beings, rather than detached from Naraku, blood would have gushed from the hole. However, no veins ran inside her body, no blood coursed under her skin. Naraku didn't have need for a servant that could be weakened by the mere flow of the crimson liquid.

Hesitating from the astonishment of the lack of red substance that Sango expected to see, Kagura took this opportunity to cause a burst of wind that flung the demon exterminator away. Before anyone else could try to stop her, the wind sorceress plucked one of her ornamental feathers in her hair, tossing it up in the air. The feather enlarged and then she leapt up onto it, causing an updraft to float away on the now giant feather.

Moaning in distress, Kilala fidgeted restlessly, wanting to soar down and check on the slayer. While Kagome was too aghast with watching both her friends being knocked down to notice, Shippo had at least realised what the large cat they rode on wanted. "Kagome, I think Kilala wants to go to Sango." That caused her to look down at Kilala to see the bristling of her fur and feel the slight ebbs of Kilala wanting to charge forward. "Kilala, let's go check up on Sango and Miroku." Kagome hadn't even finished the command before the demon was soaring straight to her mistress.

Despite having open wounds, Miroku had been the one to get up first, albeit he had to use his Shajuko as an aid. He groaned a little and muttered a small curse under his breath; it had been too long since he last had been wounded by a demon by means other than poison and he wasn't as used to ignoring the pain of bleeding injuries. By the time he reached Sango, Kagome and Shippo had already gotten off Kilala who was now nuzzling her chin against the pained demon slayer.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked the two worriedly, holding onto the large yellow bag that had mysteriously just appeared. She dropped it to the ground with a dull thud from its weight, and began looking through it for something that'll help them. Bandages were the first thing that came to mind. "Yes, I'm fine." Miroku replied casually but he had a hard look in his eyes as he watched Sango gingerly sitting up. It was difficult, and she had to grab at her side to support it, but she wouldn't rise any higher than from a sitting position. "But Sango…"

It was difficult enough to get to where she was now, and as much as Sango wanted to get on Kilala and fly after the female demon that attacked them, she couldn't get to her feet just yet. "It doesn't hurt that much." She quickly cut across anything Miroku had tried to said, and gave a stern look towards his injuries. "Kagome, go tend to Miroku first. He's bleeding and needs the attention more than I." Her hand began stroking Kilala's fur in acknowledgement of her affection. The large cat chuffed in response.

Waving his hand, Miroku attempted to dismiss the concerns she had about his injuries by insisting that her injuries were worse than his. "You shouldn't be so worried for me; at least I am still able to stand."

"What about Kagura? Isn't she still getting away?" Shippo had ended any argument that was about to begin by pointing towards the escaping wind demoness, resulting in everyone looking up towards her. She was already high enough that if they tried to fly after her she could easily disappear into the clouds, plus she also had a height advantage to attack them from.

That was enough fighting for her. After the stab and having been almost exorcised, Kagura wouldn't risk hanging around there to be killed. Especially as she was sure to have angered both of the lovers as she dubbed them enough for them to want her dead for some ridiculous vengeance. Following Naraku's orders wasn't worth losing her life over, and that was enough incentive as ever. '_I was being careless. They may be only human, but even going easy on them enough to not use my Dance of the Dragon almost costed me my life. I didn't expect to have to leave because of such a circumstance._'

Unfortunately, amidst the processing of her thoughts, Kagura had forgotten the reason that had stopped her from merely leaving in the first instance. At the obvious show of disobedience, the demons that had surrounded the clearing rumbled in low tones before the most restless of them shot up to attack the fleeing detachment. By the time she sensed the discourse break out from the previously silent demons, she turned back to see it too late for her to have done anything to cover for her apparent endeavour at escape.

With their attention solely on the woman getting away on the large feather, none on the ground had yet to notice the restless movements of the demons around them. However, almost simultaneous as the demons, Miroku was already preparing to pull off the prayer beads around his hand. With his target in the air, as long as he kept his back to the two females and two demon companions, none would be in danger of his cursed hand. "Stay back. I'll finish this." Regardless of the Hell Wasps that surrounded them, his resolve was set in what he was about to do. It was his hesitation and curiosity that caused him to lower his guard and not end Kagura's life when he had the chance, resulting in her injuring Sango. In his mind, he had taken full blame of her condition, and now he wanted to rectify his mistake even at the cost of his own health.

Sango began forcing herself to stand, completely ignoring Kagome's worrying about her injury making her unable to. Albeit, there had been a lot of pain trying to subdue her, but knowing what would happen when Miroku unleashed his Wind Tunnel was enough motivation to keep her standing. "Miroku, don't! The Hell Wasps are still-"

"WIND TUNNEL!"

It had been too late. He had pulled off the beads, releasing the powerful winds that began to draw in everything in the path of the black hole in his hand. The rushing sounds drowned out the rest of Sango's warning that even Shippo had strained to hear the rest of her words, despite having advanced hearing.

The demons had been about to reach Kagura, when she saw them gradually being pulled back towards the ground. She had only enough time to see what the monk had done before she felt the power of his curse slowly begin to pull her feather downwards. Eyes widening in fear for a second, quickly she began thinking of a way to escape with her life. She had been pulled some metres down before she decided to send a powerful tornado down on the humans to use as a diversion. "Dance of the Dragon!"

That attack had been instantly sucked in with the demons, although not without destroying a large amount of those annoying insects along the way. As deadly as it could have been, with Miroku not only braced to suck in the vast amount of demons into his Wind Tunnel (and also, enduring the massive quantity of poison that was currently entering his body) but also having such a curse kept Kagura's Dance of the Dragon clear from harming anyone. Yet, even without the attack ever reaching them, the cursed monk was still weakening; his knees almost buckling as each wasp his hand drew in only increased the dosage of deadly poison spreading in his system. As much as he knew closing his Wind Tunnel would alleviate any further suffering on his part, he refused to when knowing that it would leave his friends in danger of the remaining demons. Not to mention that he still had a score to settle with Kagura for hurting the woman that he cared for to that extent.

Again the demoness sent another Dance of the Dragon attack, and again after that one subsided. Though it didn't appear to have any effect, it did just enough as Kagura required to get away. The force of her blasts of attacks pushed the wind of the human's Wind Tunnel back enough that she could eventually pull her feather out of range. Also, it destroyed many of those pesky demons, who she knew would tell Naraku of her flight from the battle if any had survived. With a final call of "Dance of the Dragon!" she exerted more force into this last attack before finally succeeding in getting her feather to fly high enough so that it was out of range.

With a scarlet smirk unseen to those too far below on the ground, the wind sorceress soared above the clouds to cover her escape. Though she had been the initial cause of humans' detour, she decided at least to do one deed that would aid them, and more importantly, surprise Naraku with their unexpected appearance. Before snapping her fan close, she waved it once more.

Meanwhile, Miroku continued to draw in the remaining demons into his Wind Tunnel. Although Kagura had escaped, now he couldn't risk closing it as it would leave them open to any attack. His body felt heavy now – a mixture of poison and depleting blood wasn't exactly the condition he could continue to withstand for this long a period of time – but nonetheless he kept his ground and repressed any fatigue that would try to overtake his resolve. That was, until he felt a firm grip around his arm, surprising him almost that he would have fell backwards if he hadn't already braced himself for anything unexpected when unleashing his cursed hand.

"Sango?! I thought you couldn't stand." As much pain as there was throbbing in the bones of her ribs, Sango's grip on his arm was not any weaker than if she had done so while completely healed. She stood a little wobbly at first – she wasn't as accustomed to standing so close to the source of the powerful magic-induced winds as the monk – but once she regained her footing she held her ground just as well as he had. "Miroku, close your Wind Tunnel! You can't suck in anymore of those Hell Wasps!" She had to yell, even at this close distance, as the winds that pulled everything into his hand roared too loudly for anything less than a yell to be heard.

He had been about to argue, but the slayer hadn't given him any option. When she knew he wasn't about to close the black hole in his hand, she took liberty upon herself to snatch the prayer beads from him and forced it around the hand of the curse, efficiently sealing it and causing silence to surround the clearing once the deafening winds had dispersed.

Miroku couldn't stop himself from staring at her; he couldn't figure what she had been thinking that made her act as she did. Being that stunned, he didn't even notice when his body slowly began to fall back until he realised that he was sitting down. "Sango…why…?" His breathing was course as he panted heavily, and it came as a surprise to him when he realised how out of breath he was. His chest heaved outwards and inwards as his lungs struggled to gain as much air as it could.

Though her breathing remained even, Sango felt her body lagging downward too. Without the worry of the monk's life occupying her mind, the pain returned tenfold. She moved slower, careful not to pull anything as she made to sit down, but instead she found herself leaning into Miroku for support. "You were getting poisoned. Isn't it obvious why?"

"But the demons are free to attack us now."

As the words registered within her mind, she now noticed that the oncoming demons still charged forward, this time on their own. With the Wind Tunnel closed, the swarm planned on taking out the person responsible for it before he had the chance to use it again and finish them off. Unluckily for the two, now that Miroku had acknowledged how the poison had weakened him, he knew he couldn't stand up to the force of his Wind Tunnel to use it safely, and Sango had only now remembered her forgotten Hiraikotsu, which was too far for her to get to in time for use, especially in considering how slow she was moving already.

Just as the swarm were within striking distance, a glowing arrow streaked above the monk and demon slayer, purifying all the demons that had the misfortune of getting in its way. Any surviving demon had the intelligence to stop, lest they were to be next obliterated. The two humans turned back, with looks of relief as they saw their friend readying another arrow. "Kagome…" They said her name in unison.

With everyone else either absent or injured, Kagome had taken the opportunity to prepare what was left of her arrows for an attack. The demons had easily forgotten her as an opponent – an _unscathed _and fully _powered_ opponent at that – and while her friends needed her help she would more than gladly use the demons distracted states against them. '_There isn't that many left. I think I can take out the rest of them without using all my arrows up if they stay together as they are._' With Kagura gone, the only thing in their way was the small group of demons that survived either getting sucked into Miroku's Wind Tunnel, or being destroyed in the onslaught of Kagura's Dance of the Dragon. And Kagome gathered that her chances of purifying the rest of them were quite high if they didn't decide to scatter.

She pulled the string back of the bow, and that was when the demons saw the very thing the young untamed priestess had already predicted. Immediately they fled, having a duty more important to them than losing their lives for a petty vengeance; although it wasn't as though they had much of a mind of their own to have done anything other than what they were instructed. As they flew upwards, after the traitorous detachment, Kagome had lowered her bow, her target no longer within hitting range. "They left."

"Were they only here to protect Kagura?" Shippo inquired while sitting atop of the still transformed Kilala, who was padding over to her mistress once again. She carried the heavy yellow bag in her fangs, by one sling, then dropped the heavy object with a groan by the two that needed the modern remedies inside. Sango patted the large feline on her muzzle in silent thanks.

Putting away the unused arrow, Kagome walked up to the rest of her friends. "But didn't we already discuss this before? If that's so, they would of attacked before."

"Maybe they were only here to stop Miroku from using his Wind Tunnel." Sango suggested while she rummaged through the bag. Though it was difficult for her to find what she needed, as she wasn't accustomed to the medicine in Kagome's time to know what they did. Seeing her trouble, Kagome had crouched down by her friend to help her in selecting the right items. "It looked as though half of them were those poisonous insects and that was the only time they reacted." From their view during the fight, it had seemed to them that the demons had only acted to shield Kagura rather than attack her for betrayal, and everyone else thought that Sango's assessment seemed sound.

The wind had changed, and Kilala looked up, turning in the direction of where the wind had came, her fur bristling. Shippo had looked down at Kilala, about to ask the demon cat what was wrong until his nose twitch, catching the same scent that he figured she had. His eyes widened and he sniffed the air again as he double checked that it was indeed that being's scent he could smell. "Kagome! Kagome! I can smell it! It's…"

"Can you smell Inuyasha's scent?" Kagome interjected hopefully, before Shippo could even finish or before she even had time to think of what she had said. The scent had been faint before, and that was even with the wind blowing the scent in their direction. With all the time they wasted by fighting Kagura, she should have known better than to think they had the chance to pick up that scent now. But she couldn't stop herself from hoping.

Waving his hands, almost hesitantly, Shippo resumed the sentence he hadn't been able to finish. "No. It's Naraku's scent!" There was a mixture of excitement and dread in his tone. Kilala hissed at the mention of the name, supporting Shippo's exclamation as she also could smell their nemesis's presence nearby. The meaning of this news was not lost on others, although Miroku was the first to say what the other two adults had realised. "If Naraku is this close, then there's a good chance Inuyasha is also there."

Hope had never left; in fact it only expanded once she gathered how high the possibility would be that she could see Inuyasha again, if they left now. Quickly pulling out the rest of the antidotes she believed was needed, she stood up shortly after, wearing a serious expression. "Miroku, Sango, I'm going on ahead. You two need to get bandaged up, but I have to go to Inuyasha now while we still have a lead." The two were shocked by the news they were given, and they blinked at the younger female. "But Kagome, if Naraku's there then it's too dangerous for you to go on your own." Sango had begun to say, but a curt wave of the hand and shake of the priestess' head was enough to stop any other argument. "I'll be fine. Inuyasha will be there. You two won't have to worry about me."

There was a glint of determination in her eyes, that none felt they could say anything that would convince her otherwise, no matter how logical their argument may be. "It would be better if we all faced Naraku together rather than you going on your own. And it's not as if I can't wait to-" Miroku had tried to offer, but immediately found a stern glare being directed at him from Sango. "Don't say something so ridiculous. Not only are you poisoned, but you're practically pale from bleeding. You need to be treated to now." She had crossed her arms, although winced slightly after having done so too tightly against her chest.

"I can't wait." Kagome added, her tone softening. "Whenever I needed his help, he wouldn't let me wait for him if he could help it. It wouldn't be right for me to make him wait anymore the one time he needs my help." It was clear on her expression that she felt guilty for not having being able to be by the hanyou's side already, and although as much as they knew letting her go on her own against Naraku was dangerous, Miroku and Sango both knew it would be asking Kagome too much to keep her away from Inuyasha any longer.

When no one spoke to stop her, Kagome turned to Shippo, trying to force a smile. "Shippo, could you please take me? I can't ask Sango for Kilala because they'll need her to catch up to us later." The kit had been taken aback by the question, but after a few minutes he managed his response. "Ah…sure." He didn't sound as certain, but once he jumped into the air and transformed into a pink floating balloon in a puff of smoke, Kagome knew that he was more certain of himself than his voice had allowed. She climbed on, and once he was sure she was sitting in a way where she wouldn't fall, he hovered away after the scent.

The couple watched as their friend left, and as much as they had wanted to go with her, they also knew just as well that in their state they wouldn't be of much help. Being the first to look away, Sango gingerly turned to the items Kagome pulled out for her, and began looking through the ones that were familiar to her. "You don't have to force yourself to sit up now."

"Huh?" Miroku blinked once, but hadn't made any sudden movements. His head was already swirling around in a hot fever, and he felt sticky from a mixture of sweat from the fever due to the poison, and from the blood coming from his neglected wounds. "What do you mean, Sango? Haven't you been the one leaning against me for support this entire time?"

Her hand paused just as it touched the top of a bottle she remember was the antiseptic, but she kept her gaze directed at the items before her. "The poison has gotten to your head." Although it was true that she was the one to need the support to sit up more than him, she didn't want to have to admit that she had to keep suppressing her own need for medical attention. She was certain he wouldn't let her try to bandage him if he knew that much. "Do you want my help or should I just leave you to figure out which medicine you need for yourself?" Smiling nervously, Miroku waved both of his hands; he knew better than to try act stubborn when he was offered aid when he desperately needed it. "I wasn't saying anything like that. Besides, I don't know anything of the medicine of Kagome's time."

Clasping her hand around the bottle, Sango lifted it up and sighed in relief. She already had a roll of bandages and a cloth to use, and kept them just by her leg for easy access. As she reached for some water, she cringed having shifted her torso uncomfortably. She withdrew her outstretched arm to nurse her injured ribs, however she found that Miroku had already placed his hand there as he put his arm around her. "What are you doing? I can't bandage your wounds like this."

His eyes only closed, and now his breathing seemed a little easier. "If it's the poison that's making me _imagine_ that you're sitting this close to me, I wouldn't mind remaining poisoned for a little longer." Of course he was certain that he wasn't just imagining it – he hadn't been poisoned long enough to have hallucinations yet – but his senses were becoming dull from fatigue. He hadn't been sure that she was really leaning on him as he said until he had put an arm around her. For now he was content with knowing that she was close, although he couldn't see how a bright red blush was starting to glow on her cheeks. '_He really isn't feeling well. We're so close now and he hasn't even tried to grope me yet._' As much as she just wanted to indulge in the warmth of his presence, she knew that for his sake she couldn't. Inhaling deeply, she forced herself to turn towards him, forcing down any wince or cringe she felt wanted to come. "Just stay as you are then. I won't be able to help you if you try to move." With that she grabbed the first item she needed and prepared to clean his wounds.

* * *

Kagome was still sitting atop the transformed Shippo, as he floated over trees in a single direction. "Thanks for this Shippo. I just hope that I'm not asking too much from you." She looked down at the round being, but unable to see the expression on his face. "Don't mention it Kagome. It's a lot easier to take you without Inuyasha stomping around on top of me."

Flashing a small smile, although she was aware that he wouldn't see it, it soon disappeared as she looked up ahead. The wind still blew against their faces, with the scent Shippo followed lingering on its invisible waves. She may not have been able to smell anything, but she was sure when they were close enough, she'd sense the Shikon Jewel that Naraku always carried in order to strengthen himself. "I just hope that we're not too late."

Then a thought struck her. Why was Naraku outside of his barrier? He had always gone to such length to make it impossible for them to track him, so why now was he making such a critical error unless it was a trap? Also, now that she really thought of it, if Naraku did kidnap Inuyasha why did he not just disappear as he usually did so that there were no leads for anyone to follow? Something was amiss, but she couldn't place her finger on what it could be.

Shippo began to slow, and a sweat drop was forming at the side of the face his balloon like form had. "Uh…Kagome, I think I made a mistake."

"Hm? What mistake is it, Shippo?"

It was a little hard for him to have to admit, especially as he knew Kagome would get upset the moment he told her. However if he didn't say anything, then he may only be taking her in the wrong direction continually, which wouldn't help them any. "The scent's stronger now and…I don't think it belonged to Naraku." He had a feeling that he would need to explain further – something he wasn't looking forward to – and he could just imagine the look of confusion on her face as she asked, "What? It's not Naraku's scent? But I thought you said it was."

"Well I…I'm not very good with tracking. I thought it was Naraku's scent but…his detachments smell really similar, so from a distance it's too hard to tell the difference. I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be a false lead." By now he had completely stopped; the thin arms at his transformed side with small round yellow balls for hands dropped at his disappointment. And he had thought his tracking ability had improved more than that. Although he was still young, and had many more demon skills he had to develop, including basic survival skills. It hadn't helped that his parents were killed before they could teach him most of his demonic abilities.

Patting the round transformed demon she rode on, Kagome looked down at him sympathetically, of course mentally she was upset that this meant they had no lead to finding Inuyasha. "It's alright Shippo. It's my fault for asking too much from you in the first place." Just then, an idea came to mind and her eyes lightened expectantly at the fox demon child. "Wait, did you say it was a scent from a detachment? Do you mean Kagura's?"

Those large eyes tried to look up at the expression on the face of the teenage girl on top on him, however his eyes couldn't reach any higher up. "Yeah. No one else attacked us except for her and those demons that came with her."

"Then do you think if it's Kagura's scent that she's going to see Naraku? Maybe if we keep following it, then we'll find Naraku."

Shippo floated forwards once again, with a new found vigour once he knew that while it wasn't the scent he had thought it was, it was still a good lead to their destination. Even Kagome noticed that he was moving a little faster than before, of course floating was still a slow moving process, and their current lead was soaring way ahead.

Whatever hope had been renewed came to an abrupt end as the sounds of multiple growls could be heard gaining on them. Turning around, her eyes widened and a silent gasp escaped as she noticed that a group of demons (identical to the one that had left after Kagura), quickly gaining. Beneath her, Shippo started, yelling in fright. "Waaaah! Kagome, where did those demons come from?!" They were both sure that all that remained had gone on ahead – but apparently that wasn't the case at all. Some must have remained to stop them progressing any further after their missing hanyou.

"It's okay Shippo, just keep going! We can keep ahead of them." Kagome tried to coax the young demon kit; unfortunately the urgency of her tone gave way to her own doubt. In this form, Shippo's speed was vastly reduced, and those demons had appeared so suddenly that it was very possible even more hid in the forest's canopy. Although he kept moving forward, knowing that if he did anything that caused the demons to get too close, he'll become frightened and lose his concentration on the transformation he had. That wasn't to say he wasn't worried now, but at the current moment they were still at a safe distance.

The demons had closed half of the distance, and though the young fox demon did his best to not look back so as to keep a strong lead, he couldn't ignore the wringling sounds of flesh from the demons nearing. So he began making a mental checklist of some of the tricks he had which could help him get Kagome away from the demons – in his case, as long as he reverted back to his original form he could hide or outrun the demons, but the human Kagome had no such power to help her escape. Before he could think of the right item, he noticed a sudden whirlwind approaching them, and as there had been a wind sorceress attacking them previously, Shippo had been startled by the thought that they were heading straight into an attack.

On the other hand, Kagome didn't react as negatively, instead she only looked on curiously. There was a slight nagging feeling in the back of her head that she only just registered to being the pull of a Shikon shard nearby. In fact, she could feel two, swiftly approaching. "Shippo, I can sense two shards-" Before she even finished, the whirlwind had already appeared causing a shocked Shippo to lose his concentration and poof back into his original form while they were still in mid air. The rest of her sentence was drowned out by her and his screaming from the fall.

The whirlwind aimed straight for the falling two, engulfing them before either hit the ground. Despite it going straight through a forest, not one tree had been uprooted. Once it subsided, on the forest floor it revealed a familiar wolf demon who had just caught Kagome cradling Shippo. "Kagome, are you alright?" He asked, causing the teenager to blink at him, a mixture of relief and surprise. "I'm fine, Koga. Thanks for catching us."

Koga still held Kagome, bridal style at that, although he didn't at all seem to notice Shippo who was still there in Kagome's arms, making a comment about how the older demon had forgotten that he had saved two people and not just Kagome under his breath. "Where's that stupid mutt face? Did he just leave you to defend yourself?" He only took a quick glance around, but he hadn't need to as he could already smell that Inuyasha's scent was nowhere in the vicinity.

"It's not like that. We think Naraku took Inuyasha." Kagome explained, much to the confusion of Koga. "What? That dog was kidnapped by Naraku?" He had thought to put Kagome down first, which considering how her reply caught him off guard, he was just glad he hadn't dropped her. Certainly he didn't like Inuyasha, and thought the half demon to be less capable than him, but even still, Inuyasha wasn't someone that was easy to keep down for long, so he couldn't figure how it was possible for Naraku to get Inuyasha in a vulnerable enough position to actually kidnap the pain. In fact, why would he keep Inuyasha alive? The wolf was sure it'd be less of a hassle for Naraku to just kill the bothersome dog demon than to keep him alive. "How did that happen? Who'd want the stupid mutt face for anything, anyway?"

Almost opening his mouth to explain, Shippo had been stopped by Kagome before he could tell Koga of what happened to the hanyou in question. "It's probably for some plan, but none of us are sure." She smiled nervously, hoping he'd see nothing through her wary expression. Although she trusted Koga as a good friend and useful ally, she also knew that Inuyasha would _never _forgive any of them if they told Koga that she had been turned into a female. No one needed to second guess what the full demon's reaction would be – they couldn't think of a worst humiliation for the overly sensitive half demon.

Rather than wisely taking advantage of their prey's distraction, the swarm of demons had rumbled loudly to alert the three who had been standing idly in the forest of their approach. Turning towards the swarm, Koga stepped forward, initially ending the conversation there. "Don't worry Kagome, I'll take care of this sorry lot for you. Nothing's going to harm my woman while I'm around." He hadn't noticed that the girl had sweat dropped at the term he was so fond of calling her when he charged forward to attack the demon fodder.

Using the shards in his legs to speed up his actions, he had met the opposing insect-like demons head on and kicked through the few that were nearest. A pink glow had formed around his leg, strengthening the kick so that they had been sliced by the aura of kick before his leg made contact. After that he touched the ground for less than a second before quickly bouncing off again, keeping up the accelerated momentum he had. His claws extended out – not that they were as noticeably long compared to those of other demon species – and hacked into the demons he rushed through.

It was quick work thanks to the shards, that Kagome could hardly see the wolf demon slashing apart the demons by hand, while Shippo was just struggling to keep up with his rapid movements. Not even the demons in the fight could keep up. As soon as they turned in one direction, Koga had already fled through and taken a few demon heads on the way with him, and was already preparing to rebound back at them from behind. And in the time it took them to turn in that new direction, he had repeated the process and was again behind them, going in for another attack. With the last remaining demons, he had ended it with another kick, more powerful than the one he had started the onslaught with.

Demon parts still rained down, even after Koga was done and returning back to where Kagome and Shippo stood. That was how quick he had killed the extremely weak demons, and Kagome and Shippo were still struggling to count correctly how many times he had gone back and forth in the practically one sided battle. In the end, the two gave up and decided just to be thankful that they didn't need to fend off the demons for themselves.

"So what were you doing here on your own with all these demons around? Didn't you have your other friends?" Now that the imminent danger had been dealt with, Koga returned to what was important: discussing the safety of his woman.

"Miroku and Sango were hurt in a fight against Kagura. Shippo and I had to go on ahead by ourselves." For a moment, Kagome paused, wondering if her friends were still safe. If there had been some demons lingering around here to wait to attack them, she could only hope that there were none back at the clearing. Seeing the concern in her face, Shippo decided to add in his opinion on the matter. "But they still have Kilala to protect them at least." That much was true, and it made it easier for Kagome to try move on without feeling as guilty. "Yeah, that's right. So Koga, what brought you all the way here?"

"I came here when I caught scent of Naraku. It was only for a short while, but he was outside of his barrier long enough for me to get some idea of what direction he's in. Then I noticed your scent was near and decided to come check on you. I wanted to make sure that stupid mutt was keeping you safe for me." As he spoke of coming to see Kagome, he had taken her hands into his, clasping them lightly in affection. Regardless of how sincere his expression was, she couldn't seem to respond with anything other than a sheepish expression. "That was…that was really thoughtful of you, Koga." It took a few more seconds of processing, before Kagome's mind replayed the section of his reply that caused her to pull her hands free of his and stare at him with a determined expression. "Did you just say that you knew where Naraku is? Could you please take me there?"

The rapid change of emotion from what he thought to be modestly shy to a strong determination had Koga fumbling for a minute before he could finally reply confidently back at her. "Yeah, I know where Naraku may be. But I can't take you there. It's too dangerous for you to be anywhere near someone like Naraku." Not only was it evident in his tone and expression, but even by the way he put both of his hands onto her shoulders, and softly squeezed them a little, expressed the concern he had for her wellbeing. Although one of the things he admired her was because of her bravery and willingness to help anyone, but this was one of the times he would wish that she could stay back to keep herself safe. "How about I go and defeat Naraku for you? You just need to wait for me to come back; unlike dog breath I can actually kill that damned Naraku."

However, not even Koga's worry and reassurance to kill the troublesome hanyou everyone hunted down was enough to make Kagome back down. Her look only became harder, leaving no more room for argument. "I have to go. Inuyasha needs me. I don't want to stay back where it's safe while he's in danger."

That was it; as much as Koga wanted to argue back he knew that wasn't going to help. Kagome could be stubborn, and he never wanted to do anything that would really upset her, such as disagreeing. Even so, he couldn't help but feel somewhat jealous of Inuyasha still being at the forefront of Kagome's thoughts, even when the accursed dog demon wasn't even there to get in between them. "You know, that mutt isn't easy to kill…he can take care of himself long enough." He had to try, and hope that she would be easier to convince if she thought that Inuyasha wasn't in any severe danger – of course he really didn't care how much of a beating that idiot got.

"Please Koga. I need your help getting there." There wasn't going to be anything that would stop Kagome short of Inuyasha herself coming there and telling the girl from the future that she was just fine, with an added 'feh'. Unfortunately for Koga, he couldn't do anything to win and already knew it; '_That damned Inuyasha, making Kagome worry for him like this._' he mentally cursed before sighing. "Alright. I'll take you there. Just promise me that you won't do anything to get yourself hurt, even if that mutt does need the help." It was the last thing he could resort to, just to make sure that she would be safe.

Kagome gave a nod, and smiled falsely in confirmation. Although the truth was she knew that was a promise she could never keep. If she did see Inuyasha at all disadvantaged, she'd immediately be the first to interfere, no matter the consequence for herself. A part of her did feel guilty for lying to the wolf demon, but the more vocal and resolved part of her that cared for Inuyasha immediately brushed off those feelings as she climbed onto the awaiting male's back, with Shippo on the top of her head, having moved there since Koga's previous advancements. Once he was sure she was on him safely, Koga ran off in his typical fast fashion, yet he slowed it so as not to lose the girl he cared for on the run as he would of with his usual whirlwind.

* * *

おわり。

* * *

**AN: **Sango's sword is called a wakizashi. It is NOT a katana, as most fans believe. The sword Sango has is too short, and if you looked in either the manga or anime, you can see it that her sword goes from her waist to not even passing past her thighs. In comparison, Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga in its rusted form, and Sesshomaru's Tenseiga, are both katana and if you noticed, their swords go from their waists to pass their knees. And for the record, both males are taller than Sango - this should give you an idea how different the lengths of their swords are. Katana are typically meant to be long, and not meant to be used safely indoors because of their length. A wakizashi is a shorter sword that while looks like a katana, is usually used along with katanas in a fight and can be used more appropriately in battles that are indoors or in an arena where there's little room.

To be honest...I don't know when I will be updating. I'll most likely be taking my time (between university, studying Japanese and taking time to make sure the chapter is written properly), but I will be putting up the next chapter before the end of this year. That much is certain. This time, I'm not going to make everyone wait over a year for another update...that isn't exactly what I'd think to be a favourable updating schedule. Also, this has been my longest chapter thus far. Which considering how long it took to update...I doubt anyone would accept it being short. So hope you all like it.


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